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The Situation Room

U.S. Seizes Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker; White House and Cabinet Members Hold Briefing. Aired 11-11:30a 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.

[11:00:01]

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): And, look, everybody understood the context of that conversation. It was obviously supposed to be off the record because we're in the SCIF and it was highly classified.

But there were a lot of things said back and forth that you should not be running with these headlines as if it's some sort of new U.S. policy. They wouldn't have broken it in front of Chuck Schumer in the Gang of Eight, OK?

Yes. Yes. Last one, yes.

QUESTION: The president, as you saw, said that he was going to get 50 million barrels of oil or something (OFF-MIKE). Does the president have the authority to unilaterally seize oil from Venezuela and then use the money from the sale of that oil as he sees fit, as he said he's going to do?

JOHNSON: It's -- I hear Congressman Gimenez over my shoulder, who's the world's expert all in all this, saying that is sanctioned oil, OK?

And I don't -- I'm not going to get up here and tell you the details of all these developments, because we don't -- it's still being developed. There are a lot of ideas. There's some brainstorming being done out loud by all sorts of people, many of whom are not even authorized to have these conversations.

I would not run with too many of these headlines right now, OK? I'm telling you that all of this is developing right now. I am very confident we have steady hands at the wheel and then this will be figured out. So stay tuned. Thank you all.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: All right, we're going to continue to monitor the breaking news. And it's dramatic right now.

At any moment now, the White House press secretary,Karoline Leavitt, is due to hold a briefing over at the White House alongside Trump Cabinet members. The briefing comes as the drama is clearly unfolding off the coast of Iceland right now.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: This morning, in fact, the U.S. seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker linked to Venezuela. The ship seen here in this pictures right there in the distance had been fleeing the U.S. Coast Guard since last month.

So this was before this the capture of Maduro. So, when that seizure was trying to happen last month, the ship refused to stop and be boarded as it approached Venezuela.

Let's go live now to CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

Kaitlan, what more are you learning as we await for this briefing?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Yes, Pam, this is the first White House press briefing since we saw that us operation carried out over the weekend to capture and bring Nicolas Maduro into the United States, so obviously a lot of questions on that, though I should note we're going to see Karoline Leavitt alongside two of the president's Cabinet members here today.

That includes the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the ag secretary, Brooke Rollins. And that comes as we're expecting to get new dietary guidelines for Americans, something that's put out -- every updated every five years or so, but hasn't changed a ton in substance really since 1980.

And so we are expecting dramatic changes to that. We will see what it looks like when we hear from these officials any moment now, but obviously for the press secretary herself, she is the one who put out the statement yesterday when it came to Greenland and the president's desire for the United States to have Greenland in its possession, saying that, yes, it is something they are actively pursuing at this time and reiterating that they believe a military option here is actually not off the table for President Trump.

Now, we have also seen the reporting that Secretary Rubio told lawmakers yesterday that is not something that they plan to do, that is not on the agenda in terms of a military invasion of Greenland, that they are more looking to buy Greenland.

But, obviously, that's something that you heard House Speaker Mike Johnson just asked about there and also Senator Markwayne Mullin. And a lot of Republicans have been facing questions about that in light of what happened in Venezuela, because Greenland has been a longstanding desire of President Trump's.

That's not surprising to anyone. But I think it's been really crystallized ever since the operation that happened in Venezuela. And we're seeing a new dynamic of that play out with this announcement from the president last night about the United States taking in these 30 to 50 million barrels of oil, something that we're really basically told is just the beginning of this, not the end of the new United States relationship with Venezuela and what exactly that looks like.

And you heard Speaker Mike Johnson was facing questions there about the legality of this and what it actually looks like. He talked about the sanctions on Venezuela. Those are all major questions that are facing the White House in terms of what this plan is going to look like going forward in Venezuela and what the administration plans to do not just with that.

But there are also other parts of the Western Hemisphere, as President Trump who himself has made quite clear. One thing I will note, we did hear from the president, Wolf and Pam, just on TRUTH Social a few moments ago talking about NATO, because that has been something that we have heard warnings from top European officials about, saying that, if the president tries to go in and invade Greenland, that that is going to be a violation, that is going to break apart NATO.

That's something his own former National Security Adviser John Bolton told me just the other night. And so the president was saying that he actually doesn't think other NATO allies would come to the United States' defense, as he asserted in his TRUTH Social post this morning.

There are questions about that going forward, though he said he is still committed to the NATO alliance in and of itself -- Wolf and Pam.

BLITZER: So, this briefing that the -- Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, is about to have, is it going to be on nutrition mostly? Because I know the secretary of the health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is going to be there. The agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, is going to be there.

[11:05:01]

Or is it going to be on Venezuela and Greenland and national security issues?

COLLINS: I think probably both, Wolf.

I think, understandably, a lot of questions will focus on that new announcement and what exactly that is going to look like as it shakes out and how it affects the day-to-day lives of Americans with these new guidelines and what exactly it means, as we have seen Kennedy work to reshape health in America ever since he was confirmed as the HHS secretary, and, also, of course, as that vaccine schedule for children just changed up on Capitol Hill, something that even faced criticism from the Republicans who voted to confirm Secretary Kennedy, people like Senator Bill Cassidy down in Louisiana.

And so questions about that, Wolf, abound, and also when it comes to Cuba and Venezuela and Greenland and what exactly the president's desires are. I would expect all of that to come up in today's briefings.

BLITZER: And Kaitlan will be in the briefing. She will be asking questions, I'm sure, to be sure.

Kaitlan, thank you very much.

An important note to our viewers. Please join Kaitlan later tonight. She will be interviewing the former Vice President Mike Pence on her program, "THE SOURCE." That's at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

BROWN: And as we wait to hear from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and other administration officials, we are following this breaking news that the U.S. has seized a Russian flagged oil tanker that was linked to Venezuela.

BLITZER: And we're getting late words just coming in from the U.S. military Southern Command that a second ship has been seized in the Caribbean as well.

I want to bring in CNN national security reporter Zachary Cohen and CNN political and global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh. She's the former deputy Pentagon press secretary.

To both of you, thanks very much for coming in.

So, Zachary, the U.S. has been tracking these Russian-flagged oil tankers for a while. They're linked to Venezuela. What is the significance of this specific seizure?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Wolf, this is a saga that began last month when the U.S. tried to initially seize this tanker when it was near Venezuela in the Caribbean Ocean.

That attempt was unsuccessful. Ultimately, the vessel refused to be boarded. U.S. forces unable to board the ship. And it turned around and started to head back north to where it came. Now, U.S. forces continued to track the tanker as it continued to make its way in the opposite direction, using surveillance aircraft and a variety of Naval assets.

We're told at some point along the way, though, the crew on board claimed to be flying a Russian flag. They painted a Russian flag on the hull of the vessel. The vessel then subsequently appeared on the official Russian registrar, and the Russians asked the U.S. to stop pursuing it. Obviously, that didn't happen.

Today, we're learning that a second attempt was made and successfully to seize the tanker, which the U.S. claims is carrying illicit oil and operating as part of what is known as the shadow fleet. This is a fleet of vessels that the U.S. considers to be flagless, ones that are targets for interdiction, legitimate targets for interdiction, as we have seen today.

So this is something that we expect to see more of, though, the Trump administration making clear it plans to crack down on this illicit flow of oil as part of a pressure campaign really against interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez. It's a demand that the Trump administration has made to her basically to stop working with other countries like Russia and China, and only work with the U.S. as far as oil is concerned.

BROWN: And, Sabrina, how do you anticipate Russia will respond to this latest seizure?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that remains to be seen. I mean, Russia and the U.S. are right now in a very tense position. I mean, it's clear that Russia wanted to intercept this tanker before it could get out of U.S. basically authorities, and they did send their own ships to try and interdict us. And I think what it shows also is the U.S. was not going to let Russia

do that. So I think that is a good thing. I mean, these are obviously sanctioned vessels that are carrying illicit oil. But I think what it means for U.S.-Russia relations, I think that really remains to be seen, because, globally, if you look at it, I mean, right now the U.S. is trying to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine.

And that means bringing Russia and Vladimir Putin to the table, who has been so stubborn about coming to terms with any type of whether it be a cease-fire or peace agreement. So does this throw another further wrench into those negotiations that we know were just happening in Paris?

And I think that remains to be seen. I mean, Donald Trump obviously is very clear he wants this Nobel Peace Prize. So can he bring -- is he going to pick up the phone and have a conversation with Vladimir Putin about this? I don't know, but I think it does put a strain on U.S.- Russia relations that were already there too.

BLITZER: Yes, a clear strain, and a lot of folks are wondering if the Russians will retaliate militarily in some way against the United States.

Zachary, we're learning now that the U.K. also provided support in the U.S. seizure of that tanker, the Bella 1, that ship in the North Atlantic. How significant is Britain's involvement right now?

COHEN: It's interesting, the U.K. acknowledging that it did provide support, basing several of these U.S. assets that were used in the interdiction, providing operational support as it was being carried out.

And I think it's interesting how it overlaps with the conversation about Ukraine. And we have seen tensions recently between the U.S. and its strongest ally and most consistent ally in the U.K. over things like intelligence sharing. The U.K. has raised serious concerns about those boat strikes in the Caribbean.

[11:10:04]

So the fact that they were providing support for this interdiction of a sanctioned oil tanker is an interesting collaboration in context of all of that.

BROWN: What does all of this tell you, Sabrina, about America's foreign policy interest right now as it pertains to taking control of the Western Hemisphere, essentially?

SINGH: I mean, I think you're seeing sort of a new world order being written by this administration with a clear focus of the spheres of influence and the focus on the Western Hemisphere.

I mean, Donald Trump has made it clear that it's not just Venezuela. He mentioned Colombia, Cuba, Iran, Greenland. So it's also going against sort of what Donald Trump ran on and what his MAGA base really supports of this idea that we're not going to nation-build. That's exactly what Donald Trump is doing here.

So I think in terms of a world order, you're looking at priorities on the Western Hemisphere. But then also, I mean, when you talk about Greenland and potentially invading or taking over Greenland, I mean, that is a NATO ally. Denmark is someone that stood shoulder to shoulder with us in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So that could potentially break the greatest defensive alliance the world has seen since World War II. What will that do for our partners and allies around the world? I mean, I think that has a real chilling effect.

So I think we also have to take the president at his words and take this very seriously, even though you see administration officials trying to walk it back. I think this president is committed to focusing on the Western Hemisphere. But what that also remains to be seen when it comes to China, I think there's a lot of concern about also what assets are we pulling out of the Indo-Pacific and should China challenge us when it comes to Taiwan or elsewhere?

What does our footprint look like there?

BLITZER: Because if the U.S. were to use military action to take charge over Greenland, that would be seen, at least by Denmark and other NATO allies, as a violation of Article 5 of the NATO charter, which says an attack on one NATO ally is an attack on all NATO allies, and the entire NATO alliance has to retaliate.

SINGH: Absolutely.

And I think the administration is making this point that Greenland is in our national security interest. But we have a base there. We have operations going there, and we can make the argument that, yes, Greenland has national security interests for the United States, but they're NATO allies.

So if there's any interdictions that need to be done, it'd be a coordinated effort between the United States and NATO, which is in our national security interests. I don't think it's in our national security interests to take over Greenland and make it part of the United States in some way, when we really need to focus on running our country here at home, whether it's grocery prices, health care premiums, things like that.

The administration actually needs to now pivot, I think, to domestic policies as well.

BLITZER: Because the reaction, Zachary, in Congress, not just from Democrats, but Republicans, has been pretty critical as well.

COHEN: Absolutely. I think a lot of Republicans are wondering what the plan is here, both in terms of foreign policy and domestic policy, and that's something post the Maduro operation you're hearing privately from some Republicans is, like the Democrats say in public, what is going to happen next? What is the broader plan here? And there are concerns that maybe the Trump administration is sort of

making it up as it goes, rather than having some sort of a concrete plan in place before the operation was actually executed.

BROWN: Right, and, I mean, you just heard that, essentially, from Speaker Johnson, because he was asked about his thoughts on seizing the oil from Venezuela and profiting off of it, and whether the U.S. has that authority.

And he basically tap-danced around it and said the plan is still being developed, that they're still looking at the options. I mean, he essentially said as much. And the former U.S. ambassador to NATO Ambassador Ivo Daalder, is warning that the U.S. may have eroded trust with its allies.

I know we were just talking about that earlier, but I want to listen to what he said about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVO DAALDER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: The United States, with the actions of Venezuela, with the threats against Colombia, Mexico, and Greenland, seems to be saying, listen, strong powers should be able to do what they want. I think the relationship with our European allies is going to be significantly upended.

Going after and trying to take over, or, in fact, taking over an ally of the United States, A member of NATO sends a signal that the United States is more interested in acquiring territory than providing for security of its allies, and the allies will have to take the conclusion from that and draw the conclusion and say, we can no longer rely on the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That was Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder.

Are you hearing similar concerns over your sources?

COHEN: Absolutely.

Of course, the administration would argue that this is America first, right? That's sort of the pitch they're making that, by prioritizing American interests, they're making everything foreign policy and domestic policy America first.

But even Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, has raised serious concerns about, how does this align with what the president ran on, especially when it comes to not starting new conflicts, really focusing inward, focusing on what's important for Americans, like health care costs and other domestic issues?

So, from my sources from Republicans, there is this concern that it's sort of an ad hoc kind of foreign policy that could impact them in the midterms. And we saw Donald Trump talking to Republicans in the House yesterday, talking about the midterms, how important they are. So he's clearly putting a lot at stake in that.

[11:15:08]

BROWN: Right, because after the last elections, right, I mean, there was -- some of the takeaways when the Democrats won over the Republicans was Trump needs to focus more on domestic issues, he's too focused on foreign policy. So there is a real question there.

SINGH: We also know that, I mean, the top-testing message that you saw in the November elections was on affordability and the economy.

I mean, and you saw this, of course, during the 2024 presidential election. Israel was still in the news. Ukraine was still in the news. But we were not focusing as Democrats on economic issues. And that was the driver.

And so you saw that turnaround in 2025. And I think, if Donald Trump is going to continue to bring the United States, potentially bring us into more wars acquiring territory, I think Americans and a lot of Republican voters and independents in particular are going to ask themselves, are grocery prices cheaper? Are my health care premiums affordable? Can I go to the gas pump and afford the cost?

And I think if the Republican Party is particularly going to have to defend a potential invasion of Greenland, that is not going to sit well with American voters I think in the November elections.

BLITZER: Yes, good point.

BROWN: Yes, and, so far, they haven't wanted to respond much about that prospect.

(CROSSTALK)

SINGH: Yes, I think you saw some verbal somersaults there.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: We just heard from Senator Markwayne Mullin and Speaker Johnson as well.

All right, Zachary Cohen, Sabrina Singh, thank you both.

BLITZER: And still ahead: White House officials are up on Capitol Hill. They're giving a highly classified briefing to House and Senate members on the latest White House plans for Venezuela.

BROWN: And shaking up the food pyramid. Soon, health officials expected to announce changes to nutrition guidelines.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM, and we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:21:15] BLITZER: All right, we're looking at live pictures of the White House Briefing Room. We expect the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to make a statement.

And she will be joined by the president of the health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They're speaking on potential changes to the nation's nutrition guidelines, and then they will be answering reporters' questions.

But we all assume the issue of Venezuela will come up as well.

BROWN: Right, Venezuela. You have Greenland as well.

And let's listen in to the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Yes, come on up, everyone. Lovely officials with me today.

All right. Dr. Carson, come on up. Thank you so much.

Good morning, and happy new year everybody. It's great to see you. It's great to be with a very packed room. I'm sorry we kept you all very busy over the holiday break. And I know there is a lot of news out there today, both here at home and around the world. I will be happy to take all of your questions on all of that news.

But, first, I'm really honored to be standing up here today with esteemed members of the president's Cabinet and his health team to make an important announcement with respect to the president's domestic promise to make America healthy again as we kick off the new year.

In less than a year in office, the president and his incredible MAHA team have made real progress on this front. Here are just a few of the significant MAHA achievements thus far.

More than a dozen food manufacturers and trade associations have made commitments to remove artificial and petroleum-based food dyes from their products. The Trump administration took strong action to bar hospitals from performing dangerous, irreversible, life-altering transgender procedures on children.

The Trump administration announced funding awards to states through the Rural Health Transformation program, an unprecedented $50 billion investment established under President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill. The Trump administration has also worked with 18 states across the country to ban junk food purchases using SNAP benefits starting this year.

And thank you for leading that effort, Secretary Rollins.

Additionally, President Trump took historic action to secure most favored nation drug pricing and secured deals with major pharmaceutical companies to massively lower the cost of prescription drugs. And those effects are being implemented as we speak. Americans are going to continue to see the result of these incredible

deals the president cut. And I know President Trump and this team behind me worked incredibly hard to lower those drug costs for Americans.

On Monday, the CDC adopted commonsense updates to America's childhood vaccination schedule based solely on the gold standard of science. This action empowers parents and physicians to make the best individualized decisions to protect our children, while also restoring much needed confidence in our public health system.

And as a MAHA mom myself, I'm very grateful for that. So thank you, Secretary Kennedy.

To build on this progress, the Trump administration is now updating federal nutrition standards and guidelines to ensure that Americans have the most accurate, data-driven information supported by science and hard facts, not special interests or partisan ideology.

President Trump has tasked two of the great individuals behind me, USDA Secretary Rollins and HHS Secretary Kennedy, with collaborating on this vitally important project. And, today, they are here to officially unveil the 2025 to 2030 Dietary Guidelines for America.

These new guidelines are informed by the best and most reliable research on health and nutrition, particularly as it relates to the role of our diets in the prevalence of chronic disease in the country. They are also -- these guidelines are easy to read and understand, so every American, young and old, can access this information that literally has the power to change lives.

[11:25:09]

But these are not just an updated guideline. These are the foundation to all federal food programs in our country. These new guidelines are going to update the food that is served to America's children in our public schools, to the plates that are served to our great men in uniform in our military, our veterans and the food that they are consuming at the VA.

And these new guidelines are also going to impact nutritional programs for the needy in our country such as WIC and Head Start. Unfortunately, for decades, federal dollars have has promoted low- quality highly processed foods that lead to scores of long-term health issues, which means Americans have gone broke because of these health issues.

Faulty dietary guidelines of the past stacked the deck against healthy eating and food options for everyday American families, which has fueled the chronic disease epidemic and jacked up the health care costs of households across the country.

This failed approach in our public health system ends today. When these guidelines are followed, Americans will be saving themselves thousands of dollars. If we want to help cut health care costs in our country, we must become a healthier country. According to the CEA, poor diet is the root cause of obesity, which

accounts for $400 billion in medical spending each year. A healthier America will lead to a more affordable America. The new dietary guidelines from the Trump administration will ensure federal dollars go to real food to improve public health and therefore save the American people their hard-earned cash over the course of their lives.

So, with that, I am going to hand it over to Secretary Kennedy. The great people behind me will give remarks and then we will get into Q&A for the officials that are here on this specific topic. They will leave because they're all very busy people, and then I will open it up to Q&A with the rest of you on the rest of the news in the world.

So thank you, and we will start with Secretary Kennedy.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY NOMINEE: Thank you, Karoline.

LEAVITT: Thank you.

KENNEDY: Today marks a decisive change in federal nutrition policy made possible by President Trump's leadership and the work of MAHA moms and public health advocates who demanded reform.

Today, in accordance with President Trump's directive, Brooke and I will release the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025 to 2030, the most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in history. These guidelines replace corporate-driven assumptions with commonsense goals and gold-standard scientific integrity.

These new guidelines will revolutionize our nation's food culture and make America healthy again. For decades, Americans have grown sicker while health care costs have soared. The reason is clear. The hard truth is that our government has been lying to us to protect corporate profit-taking, telling us that these food-like substances were beneficial to public health.

Federal policy promoted and subsidized highly processed foods and refined carbohydrates and turned a blind eye to the disastrous consequences. Today, the lies stop. The new guidelines recognize that whole, nutrient-dense food is the most effective path to better health and lower health care costs.

Protein and healthy fats are essential and were wrongly discouraged in prior dietary guidelines. We are ending the war on saturated fats. Diets rich in vegetables and fruits reduce disease more effectively than many drugs. Whole grains outperform refined carbohydrates.

Added sugars, especially sugar-sweetened beverages, drive metabolic disease, and today our government declares war on added sugar. Highly processed foods loaded with additives, added sugar, and excess salt damage health and should be avoided.

As secretary of Health and Human Services, my message is clear, eat real food. Nothing matters more for health care outcomes, economic productivity, military readiness, and fiscal stability. Dietary guidelines shape dozens of federal feeding programs, including Head Start.

These standards affect 45 million school lunches every day. Meals for 1.3 million active-duty service members and food served to nine million veterans...

BROWN: All right, you were just listening to the HHS secretary about new dietary guidelines.

And, as that goes on, we want to go over to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who is commenting right now on Venezuela and Greenland. So, let's listen to that on this very busy news day.