[00:00:00] Speaker 1: We are now watching people leave the plane, and I'm just trying to see if one of the people leaving that plane surrounded by federal agents is the Venezuelan former President Nicolas Maduro. Right now, it looks like it is agents who have been going up and down those stairs. We know that the DEA, a huge part of this, and we've been seeing their jackets as well. While we are waiting to see the moment when Nicolas Maduro leaves that plane, heads towards the next phase of the system in place, the justice system in the United States in place, let's just watch here for a second, because this is the most activity we have seen this evening of people going in and out of that plane that has flown the President, ostensibly his wife, who were snatched from their beds in the middle of the night after strikes on Venezuela by the United States. The President announcing that, also announcing that they did not go to Congress first, not even the Gang of Eight to let them know that this was about to happen. But indeed, it did happen, and we are seeing the result of it here. Very hard to see. As you might imagine, it is now dark on the East Coast in New York, where this is all taking place in Newburgh, New York. But we are watching as they are, it looks as if they are walking backwards. And so the person there that may be beyond the man with the backpack there, you see one agent walking backwards, and you see someone flanked by quite a few people coming down the stairs gingerly. That may well be Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro taking his first steps onto U.S. soil. That appears to be what's happening, but we cannot guarantee it, as this is the most activity we have seen leaving that plane. After quite a few minutes there, some maybe 20, 30 minutes that we've been watching this. But this is the largest group of folks that we've seen leaving that plane, a remarkable, remarkable moment in history. I want to go now to CNN senior legal analyst Eli Honig, who has been, he's a former prosecutor working at SDNY. He knows the system very, very well. As you are watching this, just give us a sense of the moment. What will happen next as they take Maduro from this aircraft ostensibly to another, correct?

[00:02:35] Speaker 2: Yes, Sarah. Well, there is obviously vast political, international, diplomatic significance to what's happening here. There's also really important legal significance to this very moment we're witnessing, because there's an important concept in federal prosecution called venue. And what that means is you have to charge a case in the right federal district out of the 94 federal districts in the United States. This is, of course, the Southern District of New York. Now, there's two ways prosecutors can get venue. The first one is if they can show that some part of the conspiracy happened within that district. But the second way, and I think this is what we're seeing right here, is if the person is being brought in from a foreign country, the first place they touch down and touch American soil, there is automatic venue there. Now, this is a base in Newburgh, New York. That's within the Southern District of New York. It's about 90% of the country. It's about 90% of the country. It's about 90% of the country. It's about 90% of the country. It's about 90% of the country. It's about 90% of the country. It's about 90% of the country. It's about 90% of the country. It's about 90% of the country. It's about 90 or so miles, 70 to 90 miles north of New York City. And so when I was in the Southern District of New York, we would use this very airport all the time if somebody who was wanted, somebody who was under indictment was captured in a foreign country and then brought in, we would bring them to this airport because this ensures venue in the Southern District of New York. You heard President Trump earlier today at his press conference say there would have to be a decision about whether this President Maduro would be tried in federal court in Florida or New York. He's already been indicted in New York. And this to me confirms that this case, this trial will be handled in the Southern District of New York.

[00:04:00] Speaker 1: We are going to re-rack these pictures because as you were talking, we just saw President Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president. We could see that it was indeed him looking like he was wearing the same exact outfit that we saw earlier, a picture sent out by the administration. But a remarkable, remarkable moment where we're seeing him walking on U.S. soil, flanked by more and more people. And I think it's a very, very significant moment for him as part of the administration's effort to see this country be foam and booming in the initiatives of the federal government. phases of this pandemic and also so many new steps and steps are taking, I would have to say much investigate and make confidential things. And slowly as they take him to the next position. I think we have Jim Sciutto back with us to give us some sense of just the bigger picture in all of this, because there are so many pictures and questions that people have about what happened here and what this is going to mean, not only to Venezuela, where you have seen some folks who are gleeful, happy to see him gone, felt that they lived in hell with his administration, but there are others that still support him there, and what it means for the United States, where President Trump has said the United States will now run Venezuela for a time. Jim, this seems to be a huge shift in U.S. policy here.

[00:05:39] Speaker 3: No question. Let's talk about the ripple effects, right, the multiple ripples emanating out from this. So the first one, the most obvious one, is in Venezuela. Who leads the country now? Who runs the country? How does the U.S. run it, if the president is true to his word here? Does that involve military forces on the ground, a long-term political engagement with that country to set it on its way to elections, the president seems to be referencing here? That's an enormous task. Then go out from there, because there is a direct connection between Venezuela and Cuba, because Cuba depends in large part on Venezuelan oil money to run itself. Is Cuba the next target? In what way? Just economically? Just economically? Just economically? Is it economic pressure or military pressure as well? There's a whole host of U.S. forces in the Caribbean now, quite close to Cuba as well. We know that the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has an enormous interest there. Is that potentially a next target? Then you emanate further out from there to how do Russia and China, both of whom have direct interests in Venezuela, Russia in particular, from a security standpoint, there have been Russian forces on the ground there in the past. But also direct financial and economic interests there, given oil ties. How do they react? Do they attempt to stand in the way of this going forward? Could they cede an opposition to, let's say, U.S. forces are on the ground to disrupt the aftermath of this? It's possible. There's precedent for that. But also then how do they read the U.S. approach to the other countries where the U.S., Russia and China are coming into conflict? Ukraine, Taiwan potentially. Do they read this as the U.S. being less interested in those conflicts, therefore perhaps more amenable to Russian control of or progress in Ukraine or Chinese threats to Taiwan? Those concentric circles of the ripples, Sarah Seidner, go out quite far from Venezuela and, of course, what we're watching right here in Newburgh, New York. I was writing down on a piece of paper here. A rough list of other U.S. operations to remove the leaders of other countries. Put Iraq there, right? That was messy, to say the least. Panama worked out. It was relatively short, minimal cost, but a much smaller country. Grenada, again, got to go back to the 80s here, much, much smaller country. To some degree, some parallels with the Osama bin Laden raid, right, in that you had elite military forces go in, in that case, of course, kill the leaders. There was some talk of capturing him. Each with different ramifications and outcomes, but to some degree, with the exception of Iraq, this is one of the more ambitious U.S. regime change efforts in recent memory.

[00:08:38] Speaker 1: And we saw what happened in Iraq. I mean, there are just so many questions and a lot of members of Congress are asking those questions at this hour, wondering why they were not alerted to this happening. Especially since the president himself is saying that the U.S. will now take over in Venezuela for a time as they work out who will then lead that country. Jim Sciuto, please stick with us. I want to go, though, to Evan Perez, who is stationed outside the detention center in Brooklyn, which is about 70 miles from Newburgh. And we understand that from the plane that you saw Maduro being taken off of in that remarkable moment, he's gone inside of that building. But we understand he will be taking. A helicopter. He will be flown by helicopter to this facility eventually tonight. Evan, what are you learning where you are?

[00:09:32] Speaker 4: That's right, Sarah. We anticipate that eventually this evening we're going to see Nicolas Maduro arrive here at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. This is the secure federal facility facility where the where the feds hold people who are about to be taken. They say they've tried. This is you know, the only secure federal facility in this area right now. And what we anticipate is happening right now? You saw Maduro was met there with the team from the Drug Enforcement Administration. These are agents who have been working on this case. They've been after Maduro investigating Maduro for more than a decade. There's a number of other people, including a former Venezuelan intelligence chief. Being shot. Just like. Ad thoug. Who. Have pleaded guilty. For. over the years as part of this larger case a case that essentially has been built on over the years with information you can see certainly in this indictment that was unsealed today you can see some of the information that they've been developing over the years including examples of what they say what prosecutors say was Maduro essentially using the diplomatic protection of the Venezuelan government to protect drug traffickers