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One World with Zain Asher
U.S. Seizes Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker Linked to Venezuela; White House Questions Denmark's Claims to Greenland; Secretary of State Speaks to Reporters on Venezuela; Energy Secretary: Venezuela Oil Money to be Controlled by U.S.; U.S. Lawmakers Receive Classified Briefings on Maduro Capture; White House Press Briefing. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired January 07, 2026 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: All right. Hello, everyone. Live from New York. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: And I'm Zain Asher. You are watching "One World". Any moment now White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is
going to be holding a press briefing. We'll be standing by for that.
GOLODRYGA: She will no doubt be asked about situation Venezuela seized oil tankers and President Trump's renewed ambitions in Greenland. We will bring
that to you live as Zain just noted. But first breaking news of the U.S. displaying its might across the seas. The U.S. has seized an oil tanker
link to Venezuela after pursuing it for weeks. This according to a social media post from U.S. European command.
ASHER: Yeah, formerly known as the Bella 1, the tanker is under U.S. sanctions for allegedly transporting illicit oil. It is operating under a
Russian flag. The tanker was seized off the Southern Coast of Iceland in the North Atlantic Ocean, according to ship traffic website marine traffic.
GOLODRYGA: And separately, the U.S. seized a second vessel early Wednesday, this time in the Caribbean. The U.S. Southern Command says the vessel is
considered to be stateless and was conducting illicit activities. It is now being escorted to the U.S. The seizures come as the U.S. Energy Secretary
told a business conference that the U.S. will control the money gained from the sale of Venezuelan oil indefinitely.
ASHER: Yeah, the developments come as House and Senate lawmakers from both parties get classified briefings on the operations taking place in
Venezuela. This hour U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and other top officials are expected to outline what exactly comes next after the weekend
seizure and capture of Nicolas Maduro and his wife as well.
GOLODRYGA: Now, this as Donald Trump says Caracas will be turning over 30 to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the U.S. to be sold at market
value. The U.S. President is expected to meet with oil executives at the White House Friday. Take a listen to what he said at a Republican retreat
yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'm also meeting with oil companies. Let's go. You know, you know what that's about. We got
a lot of oil to drill, which is going to bring down oil prices even further.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Meantime, the White House is telling out the pressure for Greenland to be handed to the United States claiming the U.S. needs the island for
its national security.
GOLODRYGA: Administration officials say a range of topics are being considered and options are being considered to acquire the territory,
including military action. Greenland, which has shown zero appetite for becoming part of the U.S., has requested a meeting with the U.S. Secretary
of State.
ASHER: As Europe takes notice, some lawmakers in Washington are also increasingly concerned about this as well. Bipartisan criticism is coming
from both branches of Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARK WARNER (D-IN): I think the first few months, people kind of joked about Greenland, but the idea that he's potentially posing a serious
military threat, nothing would lead to the absolute destruction of NATO more than American aggressive action against a long term ally like Denmark.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, Senator Warner, echoing the remarks made on Monday by the Prime Minister of Denmark. Our CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House.
But let's begin with Clare Sebastian in London on these oil tankers. And Clare, as we noted, the Bella 1, now under the name of Marinara, has been
seized after the U.S. has been tracking it now for weeks,
And notable that it was with the help of the United Kingdom, as this was seized in the North Atlantic Sea, especially notable given that the United
Kingdom, as we reported a few weeks ago, had cut off providing intelligence to the United States on this specific issue as it related to the Caribbean.
Tell us more about what we know about this seizure today.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we have just got more detail in the last hour or so Bianna on how exactly the UK was involved? And I think
this really gives you a sense of the scale and sophistication of this operation, it provided the UK armed forces, said, pre planned operational
support.
I think you can file it under three categories, basing for the U.S., military assets involved. We had seen more military aircraft moving in,
according to open-source data, in the days leading up to this into the UK. That is our RAF tied force, which is the replenishment vessel was
apparently also involved in providing support to U.S. forces pursuing the Bella 1 now of course, known as the Marinera.
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And then the RAF, the Royal Air Force, provided surveillance support from the air. So, it was a multi-pronged effort here from the UK to provide
assistance to the U.S. And they were at pains the Defense Secretary coming out with a statement saying that the relationship between the UK and the
U.S. is the deepest in the world.
And said that this ship, with its nefarious history, as he called it, is part of a Russian Iranian axis of sanctions evasion. So, I think the UK
motivated here by its desire to really be part of this effort to crack down on sanctions evasion. It has been front and center when it comes to
sanctioning shadow fleet vessels linked to Russia and other countries as well.
It has had to deal with suspicious activity in the waters around the UK linked to Russia. So, I think that will explain why they were so involved
here. And I think also perhaps in the context of what we see as you know, Trump questioning NATO the commentary around Greenland, this was an
opportunity to reinforce that partnership as well, Bianna.
ASHER: All right, Clare Sebastian, do stand by. Alayna Treene, let me bring you in, because obviously one of the other sorts of very remarkable
headlines is this idea of the U.S. essentially controlling Venezuela's oil going forward, and then distributing the funds from the sale of that oil as
it sees fit.
Essentially intimating that some of it might go to the Venezuelan people, of course, and the rest of it perhaps, would obviously serve as sort of
corporate profits for American oil companies. This is remarkable, but also it really does underscore Donald Trump's long standing imperial ambitions
in the post sort of Iraq War era.
He did touch on this idea that he believed that the U.S. should have, at least, in his words, controlled the oil coming out of Iraq. It's something
that he's touched on time and time again, this idea that when the U.S. intervenes militarily in the country, that it should end up taking the
country's natural resources as well.
This is obviously extraordinary. Just walk us through what the president has said about this idea and how the assets from the sale of Venezuela's
oil will likely be distributed.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, there's a couple things here. And one year, you're exactly right Zain, I mean, the president has been
publicly saying even in the days since this operation in Venezuela from Sunday and the capture of Nicolas Maduro, that he believes that running the
country's oil industry and essentially having U.S. companies go in and try to rebuild it completely all of their energy infrastructure is a key goal.
And he has actually said, you know, commented on past wars. He brought up the Former President George W. Bush in Iraq, and he said the problem with
Iraq was that they didn't keep the oil. He said, we are going to keep the oil. That was in an interview he did with MS Now's Joe Scarbo.
But look, I want to start with what we actually just heard this morning from the Energy Secretary Chris Wright, someone who has been meeting with
oil executives this week. It comes ahead of the president meeting with oil executives on Friday.
He essentially said at a conference in Miami that any cash that is gained from the sale of Venezuela and oil will be controlled by the U.S. I want to
read a quote from what he said. He said, quote, we're going to let the oil flow sell that market to United States refineries and to around the world
to better bring, excuse me, to bring better oil supplies.
But have those sales done by the U.S. government and deposited into accounts controlled by the U.S. government. He went on to say, and then
from there, those funds can flow back into Venezuela to benefit the Venezuelan people.
Now, he also said, they're going to be looking at a way for, you know, the government to try and compensate U.S. oil companies that do choose to go in
there, because that is really a big question of all of this. You know, the president keeps saying that U.S. companies are going to go in there.
That is a tall ask for many companies who do not really see the payoff of long-term investment in Venezuela. And this also something that right
acknowledged, he said today that it would take significant time and tens of billions of dollars to try to get Venezuela's oil production back to the
historic levels it once had.
Now all of this comes. I want to bring in some new reporting that I have from today, which is that, essentially, the president and the Trump
Administration have been making demands to Venezuelan, specifically their now Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, she was, of course, previously
Maduro's Vice President.
They are laying out conditions for what they need to do in order to restart oil production and have oil sales continue in Caracas. Essentially, they
are saying that they need to cut ties with U.S., foreign adversaries, places like China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, all places that, of course, have
been really propping up the Maduro regime for years now that they must sever economic ties with those countries and also exclusively partner with
the United States on this.
This is not something we are clear that Venezuela, of course, has accepted, but this is the route that they are taking, and it's giving us a much
clearer picture of the priorities the administration has in the next steps of this entire operation.
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GOLODRYGA: All right. Alayna Treene and Clare Sebastian, thank you so much. As we've noted, a lot of fast-moving developments to talk about for that.
Let's bring in CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kim Dozier.
And Kim, let's start with the seizure of these tankers here. The U.S. had been in pursuit, in particular, of the Bella 1, now named Marinara, quickly
painted Russian flag on the ship on the side of the ship, not so long ago. And this, coming with the help of the United Kingdom, just walk us through
the significance of that.
And as I noted with Clare, especially after there had been some friction, the United Kingdom actually stopping the intelligence sharing with the
United States, as it was a bit more uncomfortable with the actions the U.S. was taking over the last few months in the Caribbean, striking these drug
boats, now sharing intelligence and helping the U.S. seize this tanker what message is that sending?
KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: That tells us that this is something with a completely different strategic objective? This is most
likely about Russia, the fact that this ship got reportedly several Russian assets to defend it, including a submarine that Russia agreed to flag this
vessel and ask the U.S. to stay away from it.
Makes it a vessel of interest. It's also apparently empty of oil. This is a ship that left Iran bound for Venezuela. Couldn't make it there before the
raid that captured Maduro, and so then headed north. That has led some of us to speculate that maybe it had something on it, like an S-300 or an S-
400 Air missile defense system, like that's the Russian version of the U.S. patriots, in layman's terms.
And so maybe the U.S. wants to get its hands on whatever that weaponry is, and the UK must agree, because this isn't any more about seizing drug
boats. This is about seizing a Russian identified asset.
ASHER: Kim, we are waiting for Karoline Leavitt to speak. There's going to be a White House press briefing starting any moment now. And of course, one
of the questions she's going to be asked is about Greenland. The U.S. has talked a lot about just how strategically important Greenland is because of
its natural resources.
It's got oil, it's got rare earth minerals. But I think what's really important here is that there's been so much confusion as to whether or not
the U.S. is going to be willing to go in militarily? How serious Trump is about seizing Greenland? Whether it is simply looking to buy the island
from Denmark?
But if you are the Greenland Premier, if you are the Danish Prime Minister, at this point in time, what are you doing? I mean, how are you sort of
strategically preparing, discussing, I guess, with Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, about staving off the U.S.'s advances, or what to do if indeed
the U.S. does go ahead with its ambitions here, especially given what you've seen over the weekend happening to Venezuela?
DOZIER: I think the attitude is that they have to be ready for anything from the European perspective, Donald Trump looks emboldened. He seems to
have realized there is very little in the short term that can stop U.S. military action wherever he chooses, but the most likely way the U.S. would
try to acquire Greenland is through pressure, pressuring Denmark, pressuring the EU to step back, and saying that we must have this
territory.
However, I think from the European perspective, they realized that this is a line they have got to draw, that they have to send a message to Trump
that this isn't just about Greenland, which, by the way, the U.S. has already signed a treaty regarding Greenland with Denmark, such that it can
base far more troops there than it has right now at the Pituffik Air Base.
It can expand its basing rights. It doesn't need to acquire the territory in order to run military operations off of it or off of it seized. But
anyway, back to the other point of I think Europe is realizing they have to send the signal that this could threaten the whole NATO alliance and that
Trump doesn't want to mess with this.
And some people, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, get that. I don't think some other advisers like Stephen Miller, do.
GOLODRYGA: Well to that point, Kim Trump posted on Truth Social earlier this morning, quote, we will always be there for NATO, even if they won't
be there for us. Suggesting, on the one hand, the United States will honor its commitments while questioning whether the NATO will do the same? And
other members of NATO even though they have proven that they actually are capable and willing to stand up and defend any member of the alliance.
[11:15:00]
If what is most likely to happen is not military engagement or action, but the U.S. forcing Denmark to sell Greenland to the United States, to go back
to the words of the Danish Prime Minister, any sort of military action would see the end of NATO. Would that apply to even a force or coerced
purchase?
DOZIER: Look, I don't know how the White House proposes to do it. I think this is a case where Donald Trump is going to find that he keeps getting a
firm no, and he's going to be a little bit baffled and frustrated by that. I think what you're going to see is just as when the Europeans negotiate
with Trump over Ukraine, they don't shame him publicly.
They try to get into a room with him and explain, hey, you don't want to do this, and here is why, and here is what you already have available to you.
You don't need to seize Greenland. So, I think people who like the British Prime Minister, maybe the Finnish President, people who Trump actually
respects and listens to have to get in there and be the voice in his ear to drown out some of the others around him who are feeding this desire to
capture territory within the U.S., quote, unquote, sphere of influence.
ASHER: When you think about what happened over the weekend, I mean, obviously, I'm sure you saw the alerts on your phone, you know, early
Saturday morning. And a lot of us were flabbergasted by what happened to Nicolas Maduro. Not just the fact that you had this sort of initial
explosions around Caracas, indicating that something major was underway, but obviously his capture, and then the fact that he was on his way to
Brooklyn, New York.
That's one thing. You know, the charges against Nicolas Maduro that's in one category of things that sort of beg a belief, I guess, with this
administration, in terms of what's happened. But this idea that the U.S. is now going to be controlling oil out of Venezuela and then selling it and
distributing the funds as it sees fit, deciding how much the Venezuelan people get, versus what the U.S. government gets, versus what sort of
corporate profits American oil companies. I mean, just give us your reaction to that side of it as well, Kim.
DOZIER: It feels like an act of piracy. It feels like a stick up that the U.S. has used force and is just going to take what it thinks it's owed, not
go through international law, not go through like it did before the war in Iraq. The Bush Administration worked hard to get allies on board with this
action.
The U.S. is doing none of that right now. And in a sense, the Trump Administration is fighting an absolute war. It's picking fights with China
and Russia by going after the oil in Venezuela, but it's also now picking fights with its normal allies in Europe by expanding his territorial grab
to hey Greenland next.
This is what's called an absolute war, and as Napoleon found out, as the Nazis find out, you cannot win an absolute war eventually there will be pay
back. You can't take everybody on. The Chinese we've got a trade de taunt with them right now. That is a lever that I'm sure Xi is considering
pulling to punish the U.S. for this.
And as for Russia, you know, we've just seized a vessel that had reportedly Russian assets around it trying to defend it. That could have put, you
know, troops directly in contact between the U.S. and Russia. But I bet it's going to make some real tensions the next time Trump tries to put
pressure on Putin for anything regarding Ukraine or anything else.
GOLODRYGA: And it's also important to note the United States already has an agreement with Greenland that was established in 1951 that has allowed the
United States to have a base on the island. And the Danish Prime Minister and their government have been very open to the idea of even a larger
presence for the United States on the island as well.
It seems that still isn't satisfying the president's desire to own the territory as a whole. Kim Dozier, do stay with us, please. We are, as we
noted, waiting to hear from this from the White House about all of it, and we'll bring that to you live when it happens.
ASHER: All right, still to come here. We're also watching the markets to see if the DOW reaches 50,000. It is pretty much in striking distance. We
will watch to see if it hits that very symbolic milestone. We'll have a look at Wall Street's record-breaking week after the
Break.
GOLODRYGA: Plus, the Donroe Doctrine, so what is it and could it be a threat to global order and cooperation? We'll break it down for you. Stay
with CNN.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: OK, we are going to take you live to Capitol Hill where Chuck Schumer is speaking after just being briefed, along with other members of
the Senate by U.S. administration officials following the raid in Venezuela.
SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): -- into a sustained military operation, more than 200 quote, enemies have been killed. American troops have been injured. We
have the U.S. forces arrayed around Venezuela, but neither the House nor the Senate have been willing to hold a single public hearing to put these
facts before the public. Why not?
We need to start doing our job. What they will do is get us in a classified setting where the leader of the Senate says this is not for public
consumption. And so, the questions that we have about the legal rationale we cannot discuss in public, the questions we have about the strategic
rationale we cannot discuss in public, about the targeting criteria we cannot discuss in public, about what's next is Greenland next is?
Is Colombia or Mexico or Cuba next? It's very hard to discuss in public. We've got to get this discussion out of the skiff and into the public
before it's too late.
REP. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Reason we need hearings, public hearings is the founding fathers when they gave the Congress the power to make war new,
that this is such a such a powerful and fraught with pearl issue, making war, that a public discussion was required.
They're avoiding all public discussion to talk to us in the skiff where we didn't get adequate answers even to our questions, but not let the American
people know what they're doing when it's the American people who have always paid the price when we try to do this regime change in blood and
treasure. We need answers. We need answers to these questions, and we need them made publicly.
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, there's a lot of operational details that can't be discussed publicly, obviously, for obvious reasons.
So, as we move forward, we'll describe our process, which is a three-fold process in Venezuela. I've described it to them now.
Step one is the stabilization of the country. We don't want it descending into chaos. Part of that stabilization and the reason why we understand and
believe that we have the strongest leverage possible is our quarantine, as you've seen today, two more ships were seized.
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We are in the midst, right now, and in fact, about to execute on a deal to take all the oil they have oil that is stuck in Venezuela. They can't move
it because of our quarantine and because it's sanctioned. We are going to take between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil. We're going to sell it in
the marketplace at market rates, not at the discounts Venezuela was getting.
That money will then be handled in such a way that we will control how it is dispersed in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people, not corruption,
not the regime. So, we have a lot of leverage to move on the stabilization front.
The second phase will be a phase that we call recovery, and that is ensuring that American, Western and other companies have access to the
Venezuela market a way that's fair. Also, at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela, so that the
opposition forces can be amnestied and released and from prisons or brought back to the country, and begin to rebuild civil society.
And then the third phase, of course, will be one of transition. Some of this will overlap. I've described this to them in great detail. We'll have
more detail in the days to follow. But we feel like we're moving forward here in a very positive way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- describing your operation variously is that you're winning it, but there's no plan for Venezuela going forward.
RUBIO: I used to be a Senator too. That's what you always say when it's the other party. The bottom line is, we've gone into great detail with them
about the planning. We've described it to him. In fact, it's not just winging it. It's not just saying or speculating it's going to happen.
It's already happening, like the oil arrangement that we've made with Pay De Vasa on their sanction door that they can't move. Understand, they are
not generating any revenue from their oil right now. They can't move it unless we allow it to move, because we have sanctions, because we're
enforcing those sanctions, this is tremendous leverage.
We are exercising it in a positive way. The president described it last night. Secretary will write, will have more to say on it today, who is
involved in running this portfolio, and we feel very positive that not only will that generate revenue that will be used to the benefit of the
Venezuelan people, and we're insured that that's what the case is, but it also gives us an amount of leverage and influence and control over how this
process moves forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Secretary on Denmark sir. Why is the administration not taking Denmark's offer to discuss the situation in Greenland?
RUBIO: And I'll be meeting with you next week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you take military intervention off the team?
RUBIO: I'm not here to talk about Denmark or military intervention. I'll be meeting with them next week. We'll have those conversations with them then
and but I'm not having anything further to add to that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you clarify your comments to lawmakers -- U.S. intent by Greenland? Can you clarify your comments to lawmakers this week?
RUBIO: Well, that's always been the president's intent from the very beginning. He said it very early on. I mean, this is not new. He talked
about it in his first term, and he's not the first U.S. President that is examined or looked at. How could we acquire Greenland? There's an interest
there, but so I just reminded them of the fact that not only the Truman want to do it, but President Trump's been talking about this since his
first term.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- his statement last night saying that the military option. The military option is on the table. So, is the administration
really willing to risk the NATO alliance by potentially moving ahead, military option?
RUBIO: Guys, what I think the White House said yesterday is what I will tell you now, and I've always said the president always retain the option.
If he every president, not this president, every president always retains the option. I'm not talking about Greenland. I'm just talking about
globally.
If the president identifies a threat to the national security of the United States, every president retains the option to address it through military
means, as a diplomat, which is what I am now and what we work on, we always prefer to settle it in different ways that included in Venezuela. We tried
repeatedly to reach an outcome here that did not involve having to go in and grab an indicted drug trafficker. Those were unsuccessful
unfortunately.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The people of Venezuela are waking up to the same regime. Do you not worry about that?
RUBIO: Well, first of all, the bottom line is that there is a process now in place where we have tremendous control and leverage over what those
interim authorities are doing and are able to do. But obviously this will be a process of transition. In the end, it will be up to the Venezuelan
people to transform their country.
We are prepared under the right conditions, using the leverage that we have, which includes the fact that they cannot move any oil unless we allow
them to move it. Well, again, I'm not going to give you a timeline on it. We want it to move as soon as possible, but we didn't expect this would
it's been three days since this happened, four days since this happened.
So, I understand that in this cycle in society we now live in everyone wants instant outcomes. They want it to happen overnight. It's not going to
work that way, but work. We're already seeing progress with this new deal that's been announced, and more deals to follow. You're already seeing how
the leverage the United States have over those interim authorities is going to begin to lead to positive outcomes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- American taxpayers. How much? How long?
RUBIO: It doesn't cost us --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. involvement in Venezuela? How much will it cost --?
RUBIO: Boy it doesn't go to cost the same money. For example, this oil deal that's happening doesn't cost us any money. On the contrary, and if it
opens up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible)
RUBIO: Cost no money. Look, I can't, I don't have the numbers that you what operation you talking about? The entire thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
RUBIO: Well, these troops are going to be none of these troops sit in a dry dock waiting for action.
[11:30:00]
They're deployed somewhere in the world. If they're not here, they're somewhere else. Just today, our force is not deployed to the Caribbean.
Seized a boat, a sanctioned boat, tied to the IRGC that tried to flee from us. That happened somewhere else. We are constantly involved in action.
We have boats in the Mediterranean. We have ships in the Middle East. We have ships in the Indo Pacific. These ships, if they weren't in the
Caribbean, they'd be somewhere else, conducting activity. That's what the Navy does.
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: I want to emphasize that question from CNN. The question is never asked, how much does it cost when they're
in the Mediterranean or the Red Sea, or the Indian Ocean or the Pacific? But now that they're in our hemisphere on a counter cartel mission or
ensuring that indicted individual comes to justice.
Now you're asking the question of cost. It's a disingenuous question to begin with. You're trying to find any angle possible to undermine the
success of one of the most historic military missions the world has ever seen the level of sophistication that Senate just was briefed on and the
House was briefed on a classified level, is something only the United States of America can accomplish.
The world is taking notice of that. Certainly, Venezuela is taking notice of that, and it continues because two oil tankers, two overnight, were
seized by the United States of America state list or sanctioned because the oil blockade, the quarantine of oil out of unsanctioned or stateless,
sanctioned or stateless vessels, continues, that leverage will continue, as Secretary Rubio outlined.
So, our military is prepared to continue this. As he said the president, when he speaks, he means it. He's not messing around. We are an
administration of action to advance our interests, and that is on full display. We're happy to brief.
RUBIO: Two quick things, OK? Number one, because we have to go, because we got to brief the House, and if we don't, and they're pissed at us. We're
going to -- you guys better defend us. That was because we were talking to you. I would make one more point. It's a very interesting point.
One of those ships that were seized that had oil in the Caribbean, you know what the interim authorities are asking for in Venezuela. They want that
oil that was seized to be part of this deal. They understand, they understand that the only way they can move oil and generate revenue and not
have economic collapse is if they cooperate and work with the United States. And that's what we see are going to happen. We got to go talk to
the House guys. I apologize.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- challenge to Vladimir Putin, that was a Russian flag tanker.
ASHER: All right, you've just been listening to a live, sort of impromptu press conference with Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and also Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth speaking there, they talked about the fact that you had these two oil tankers that were seized. But also, the long-term goals
and the short-term goals of U.S.'s policy going forward in Venezuela.
Marco Rubio said the goal is stabilization, not chaos. And also, this idea that the U.S. is going in, essentially seizing 30 to 50 million barrels of
sanctioned oil that the U.S. is going to sort of sell on the marketplace and distribute the funds as it sees fit. He also talked about civil society
tackling oppression and repression, and also human rights in Venezuela.
And this is key, this idea of American oil companies now going in and having access to Venezuelan oil beyond Chevron, which does have limited
access. I want to bring in Kim Dozier now, CNN Global Affairs Analyst.
I want to get your reaction on what Marco Rubio said there, and also, if you are an American oil company beyond Chevron, because we know that
Chevron does have a limited deal with the Venezuelan Government, and also PDVSA, the state oil company there.
But just walk us through, if you are an American oil company, what are the risks, just in terms of going back in? You've got this massive task of sort
of bringing back to standard the sort of degraded energy infrastructure in Venezuela.
But also, there's the risk of volatility, political instability. I mean, things could change on a dime, as we've seen over the past four days. Give
us your thoughts on the major concerns, because we do know that Donald Trump is meeting with some key energy executives coming up.
DOZIER: Well, Chevron is already doing business. There has been for some time, but other oil executives got burned when Venezuela nationalized the
oil fields back in the early 2000s seized their assets. A lot of those oil companies won in international arbitration courts, but then Venezuela
wouldn't pay up.
So, they may be eager to get a foothold back in Venezuela for the future. But if you're looking at the picture right now, oil prices aren't high, so
the cost of getting in and developing that oil, it's a very long-term bet based on what is right now a very shaky political situation.
You've got some apparent purges going on within Delcy Rodriguez's left-over Maduro regime. You've got the Minister of Interior and the Minister of
Defense' both potentially eventually vying for power, they are both indicted by the U.S. and still have bounties on their head.
[11:35:00]
And you just had Secretary of State, Rubio, say in those brief comments, he said something about making it possible for prisoners to be released and
for opposition members to come back into the country. So, you can see that while President Trump doesn't seem to care about bringing democracy to
Venezuela, this is about seizing assets.
It is in Marco Rubio's mind that he does want to eventually fix the government, even though he feels like they have to currently use the shell
of the Maduro system because the military and the security services are so entrenched in power.
So, I can see he's hinting at a phased process. If I were an oil executive thinking about a multi-billion-dollar investment in Venezuela, I'd want to
wait a few weeks, months, maybe even a year, for these things to shake out and see who ultimately ends up holding power in that country.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, especially if you're then being asked or tasked with paying for all of this restructuring, as well as an executive of an oil
company that has to account to shareholders for whatever decisions, especially big ones like this one, they ultimately make in long term.
I do want to bring in Freddy Guevara, who's a Venezuelan Opposition Politician in Exile here in the United States, a Visiting Fellow at Harvard
University, who joins us now from New York. And Freddy, what was really interesting was, I think for the first time since the seizure of Maduro and
his wife over the weekend, we got much more clarity and detail about what the U.S. policy and planning is from Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
Than we have received from the president who simply said, I'm controlling Venezuela and we are controlling all of the oil assets of the country. What
we heard there from Marco Rubio was that this was going to be a three-phase process that perhaps could go on weeks, if not months.
The first is the stabilization of the country and keeping the current regime, minus the head of the regime, and that is its leader, who is now
here in the United States with his wife, keeping that regime in place for now temporarily to somewhat stabilize the country, as the U.S. seize
leverage and control over the supply of oil in and out of the country as its best opportunity to have this regime do what the United States views is
the best for the country and U.S. interest.
Just give us your thoughts on what you just heard there in terms of the three phases, the first being stabilization, then recovery, meaning that
people like yourself who are jailed in the country, opposition members, perhaps those outside of the country can come back and ultimately lead to a
transition.
FREDDY GUEVARA, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN: Thanks for the opportunity. First, of course, we will like, we would have, like, a
different outcome of this, but the Maduro regime build this outcome for themselves. And I have to -- I want to say three things that are very
important for everyone to understand.
We understand, of course, and respect the American worries and all your concerns about your own internal issues. But from the Venezuelan
perspective, I want to be clear with three things. First, we're happy that Maduro is in jail.
Second, we prefer, for you know, without any doubt, to deal with all oil, with the Americans, that with the Maduro regime, or with the Chinese,
Iranian, Cubans or Russians. And the third thing is that any democratic transition needs to start with the freedom of political prisoners, and of
course, ends when free and fair elections.
That's the path that we're trying to find that we're going to follow, and the one that we're trying to work with the Americans and with the
Venezuelans in order to assure that we achieve these goals.
ASHER: Freddy just to sort of talk about a few things here. And Kim, we're going to bring into the conversation as well. You know, there are a lot of
people who are looking at this and sort of fear that the opposition has been neutered, I guess, sidelined.
You know, a lot of people have come out and said that Delcy Rodriguez is simply an extension of the Maduro regime that obviously you wanted to get
rid of, and now the U.S. is sort of using her as a gateway to sort of expand its own interest. Can you understand, from your perspective, why the
U.S. has chosen to go this route in terms of supporting Delcy Rodriguez?
I mean, obviously, if it had chosen an opposition leader and sort of propped up an opposition leader in the country, there could have been
really difficult consequences in terms of infighting, in terms of sort of pro-Maduro factions fighting against opposition factions as well, just in
terms of violence. Just walk us through your thoughts on Delcy Rodriguez being chosen over various opposition figures?
GUEVARA: Of course, as a member of the position, we would have absolutely prefer that Edmundo Gonzalez, who was the one that won the election, will
be in charge.
[11:40:00]
However, we also understand two things, life is not necessarily as we always want, and we understand that the ones that could take the decision
to remove Maduro were the Americans. So, we have to deal with reality. And the reality now is that they have chosen a path that, in my opinion, I can
speak for them, of course.
But what I believe that they're being, they've been playing, and they've been saying, is that they are trying to work in a reform path, let's say,
and not necessarily, an old revolution, with the expectation that the people that are managing the leftovers of Maduro comply with Americans and,
you know, be supportive of democratic transition.
I don't trust the Rodriguez. I don't trust the leftovers in the regime. They are as involved as Maduro in all of the things that he's been accused.
However, also, history is full of surprises. We want to be wrong. We really want to be wrong. I hope that you know they understand that they're not
negotiables.
We believe, and we hope that that happens. But at the same time, I have to say to you, I deal with them, with the brothers, with Delcy and with his
brother in many negotiations. And what I can assure you is that they believe that they're smart enough to confuse Trump.
Their wish is to accept, to make the Americans to accept that Venezuela becomes kind of a Saudi Arabia or China in which there's oil investment but
no freedom, and that's the risk that we that everyone has to confront.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, and you've also been very clear that you think Delcy Rodriguez betrayed Maduro as well throughout the process.
GUEVARA: For sure.
GOLODRYGA: Kim final question to you, as you heard there from Freddy that the opposition supports much more, that the United States play a role,
perhaps even in control, for the time being, Venezuela's natural resources, specifically its oil, than other countries like China, Russia and Iran.
And we have heard from the administration that one of the demands of this regime under Delcy Rodriguez would be to kick out all of the advisors, all
of those advisors from those three countries in particular, to continue to have U.S. support, at least for the interim in running the country. Your
thoughts on that?
DOZIER: Look, we know that it was the CIA that advised President Trump that the best way to maintain stability in the short term was to keep the
existing system in place. But that what U.S. officials are hoping will happen is that all the people who are in charge of this system and getting
enriched by it will see the writing on the wall and start creating their exit plans.
Start leaving the sinking ship, so that in a few months from now, if the U.S. puts pressure on a weakened Delcy Rodriguez, if a lot of her allies
have left the country, gone to Russia, found exile somewhere else, that she will be more amenable to running elections, and at that point, hand over
power to the opposition.
But in a sense, it's like this is an -- it's a car crash that the U.S. has slowed down, but it's still going to be violent, and there are going to be
clashes, fights for power, and when opposition politicians come back into the country from exile, they are going to face danger. It's all just going
to be a slow knife fight instead of a big explosion at the beginning.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. And as we just were reminded by Secretary Rubio, that we're just four days in to this. It seems like it's been a very long week -
-
ASHER: Bring --
GOLODRYGA: -- but this is just the beginning. Kim Dozier and Freddy Guevara, thank you so much. We really appreciate your time, and we'll be
right back with more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: We just heard from Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth after they brief Senators about the operation and the raid in Venezuela. Our Manu Raju asked
about the cost of the operation, and he joins us live now from Capitol Hill.
So, Manu obviously we saw Pete Hegseth get very defensive in response to your question. But we saw both sort of sides of the aisle react to what
happened in Venezuela and what they've been briefed on. We saw Chuck Schumer, Tim Kaine coming out before Hegseth and Rubio, essentially saying
that this needs to be made public.
There's so much the public does not know about the raid, about the legality of this raid, how and why it happened? And that needs to be brought into
the light. Just walk us through what we heard from the Democrats there as well.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, look, this was a briefing that is typically what happens in these it comes down along party
lines. Democrats very dissatisfied in this case. Republicans say that this was an excellent military operation that was achieved to precision.
They think there is a plan in order to get the new Venezuelan government in place to start to produce oil that would be beneficial to America and the
like. But there are so many details underneath all that about how exactly will the administration move ahead with trying to extract the oil from
Venezuela and put it on market, and actually not in will it require American resources in terms of troops on the ground?
How will they deal with the new interim government that is in place, that, of course, is the Vice President under Maduro? Will they -- will there
actually be free and fair elections that will happen then? What happens if there aren't free and fair elections? And all those questions are still
overriding all of this.
And I tried to get that question about how much this will cost, because that is a big another big question, is this going to have a cost to
taxpayers? Marco Rubio said it would not have a cost to taxpayers. He said it's no different than having a military deployment in any other part of
the world.
And then this, I tried to ask them too about whether there'll be boots on the ground, American boots on the ground in Venezuela. They side stepped
that question would not directly answer that point. Of course, Donald Trump said over the weekend that that is certainly a possibility of his and mine,
to have American troops involved in all this.
And then on top of just what's happening in Venezuela, the next steps and the like, what is about the administration's hopes to expand U.S. interests
to places like Greenland? Will it actually move to acquire Greenland by military forces? The White House has very clearly kept that option on the
table.
And I asked Rubio about that at the beginning of the briefing, and he was tried to say that this is not something he came here to talk about. He made
very clear he wanted to focus on Venezuela, not on Greenland. And then, when pressed further, he said, look, military options are always on the
table.
And he tried to compare the Trump's interest in Greenland to other past administrations who have had interest in putting more U.S. -- have U.S. --
more U.S. involvement, or having more of U.S. military assets on Greenland itself.
But of course, those past presidents did not threaten the military action the way that Donald Trump has. Nevertheless, this focus of this briefing
that happened behind closed doors has been predominantly about what is next for Venezuela? But as we're hearing from members as they emerge from these
briefings.
[11:50:00]
A lot of them say there's still so many questions left to be answered by these top administration officials, guys.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, quite a contrast. I should note Manu in the tone that Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and the Defense Secretary had with you.
Rubio gave you a nice compliment as to your appearance, and then the Defense Secretary came in and really was much more combative to your
question about the overall cost to this.
I do wonder Manu, because it seems that every time that Secretary of State Rubio, tries to attempt to lay out some sort of policy planning here,
longer term, what the ultimate goals are for the U.S. administration. It's the policy that the U.S. is running, not the country itself, that there is
a plan and hope for a transition to democratically held elections.
The president then sort of undermines him and says, no, I'm running the country and we're running the oil, and that's it. Can we expect more of the
same going forward?
RAJU: Yeah, look, it is an interesting study in contrast, because Marco Rubio, very much, is the driving force behind this strategy in Venezuela.
And the president, some people say he's just speaking aloud without actually having consulted with Rubio about saying, I'm going to run the
country.
But then others know that it appeared to be, at least as comments from over the weekend, part of his prepared remarks, at least it seemed that way. So
how do those two things work in tandem?
And look, Rubio always had to be a bit of an explainer in chief behind closed doors, because he is trying to make clear that the use the
administration's leverage over the oil in Venezuela is what they're going to use to coerce Venezuela into following the administration's demands
here, and it's not about running effectively, running the country.
They say that the current interim government is now running the country. But of course, does Donald Trump agree with that? That is a totally
different question, as one is fed so much confusion here in Washington. Because, of course, the United States has enough issues to run, problems to
deal with of its own. Can it actually have been a separate sovereign nation with so many of its own problems? That's a big concern and question that
members have in these briefings, guys.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, how many countries and territories will we be owning or attempting to own in the months ahead? He'll be covering it all for us.
Manu Raju on the Capitol Hill for us. We'll be right back. Thank you so much.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:55:00]
ASHER: All right, we are standing by right now because we are expecting to hear from Karoline Levitt, White House Press Secretary. She's going to be
holding a briefing. It was supposed to start about an hour or so ago. I believe it is under way, but we are waiting for her to take really
pertinent questions on some of the issues that we've been discussing today.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, right now she is addressing issues related to HHS and agriculture, and those secretaries are speaking, as soon as the topic then
turns to Venezuela and Greenland of course, we will bring you those comments. A lot going on right now, as we just heard from the Secretary of
State and the Defense Secretary, laying out more policy and more of the planning around the U.S. operations currently underway in Venezuela.
ASHER: Yeah, and this idea that the U.S. is going to be controlling oil assets from Venezuela, distributing the funds, selling the assets in the
global oil market, and distributing the funds as it sees fit. Stay with us. We'll have much more "One World" after the short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: All right, we're going to take you now to the White House briefing room. Karoline Leavitt is speaking.
KAROLINE LEAVITT, U.S. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: -- from the podium since being back and since the historic and incredibly successful military
operation, law enforcement operation conducted by our United States military that you all saw and the world witnessed last week. The skill the
might of the United States military and our country under the leadership of this president, is on full display to the rest of the world, and let's just
set the record straight.
There isn't another military in the world who could have pulled off this operation. There is not another president in the world or in our nation's
history, who had the courage to authorize such a mission. And I think the world has taken notice that America is truly back.
With respect to Venezuela the Trump Administration led by Secretary Rubio, the Vice President, and the president's entire national security team is in
close correspondence with the interim authorities in Venezuela. We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela
right now.
And the president has made it very clear that this is a country within the United States, the Western Hemisphere, close by the United States that is
no longer going to be sending illegal drugs to the United States of America. It's no longer going to be sending and trafficking illegal people
and criminal cartels to kill American citizens, as they have in the past.
And the president is fully deploying his peace through strength foreign policy agenda. So, we're continuing to be in close coordination with the
interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just one follow up, when you talk about that leverage there. Has the Venezuelan government fully committed to turning over its
oil to the United States indefinitely? And what happens if they do not?
LEAVITT: Well, as you saw, the president announced last night, this was a deal. This was a deal made by the president and his team with the
Venezuelan interim authorities. This will benefit both the American people and the Venezuelan people.
END
