PBS News Hour - Full Show - January 3, 2026 - PBS News Weekend full episode

Episode Date: January 3, 2026

Saturday on PBS News Weekend, Trump says the U.S. will indefinitely run the country of Venezuela after the military's capture of Nicolás Maduro. Some Venezuelans celebrate the U.S. operation while others worry about what comes next. Why San Francisco is suing top food manufacturers over ultraprocessed foods. Plus, how the Census Bureau counts every person in remote Alaska. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Tonight on PBS News weekend, President Trump says the U.S. will indefinitely run the country of Venezuela following the military's capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Then an on-the-ground report from Venezuela's capital Caracas, as some celebrate the U.S. operation but worry about what comes next. And we head to one of the most remote parts of Alaska to see how the U.S. Census Bureau is making sure government. grants get to the people who need them the most. These places are not on the road system most of the time. You're flying in or boating in, and it's very prohibitively expensive to build. With these grants, they're able to build more homes for people, build community centers. Good evening. I'm Ali Rogan.

There are moments in time when history possibly pivots, and today, in a stunning act of regime change, the U.S. military captured and brought Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to U.S. soil. Not long after that, in a remarkable declaration, President Trump announced the U.S. would, quote, run Venezuela and warned of a new era of United States domination over Latin America. We will get an on-the-ground report from Venezuela's capital Caracas in a moment, but we begin our coverage with Nick Schifrin. It was just after midnight over Caracas when U.S. helicopters with Delta Force soldiers descended toward Nicolas Maduro's compound.

Nearby residents filmed and cowered from U.S. strikes on at least four locations. All part of the mission to capture and extract Maduro. By 2 a.m. local, they had him, and by 3 a.m., he was shackled aboard the USS Iwojima, the a dictator-turned detainee of the U.S. Department of Justice. U.S. military officials said U.S. helicopters took fire as they left Venezuela, but remained able to fly. A source familiar tells PBS NewsHour, a small CIA team arrived in August and created extraordinary insight into Maduro's pattern of life that made grabbing him seamless.

This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence. In Palm Beach today, after he and his team watched the operation unfold overnight, President Trump announced the operation was not only about regime change. We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. President Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Venezuelan Vice President Delci Rodriguez, who was sworn in to replace Maduro.

a long conversation with Marco, and she said, we'll do whatever you need. I think she was quite gracious, but she really doesn't have a choice. But at least publicly today, Rodriguez rejected that. We demand the immediate release of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores. The only president of Venezuela is President Nicolas Maduro. And President Trump made clear part of the plan was to take. take Venezuela's oil. The country has the world's largest oil reserves, which the U.S. helped develop exactly one century ago.

But former leader Hugo Chavez kicked out some U.S. and other foreign energy companies, and today the industry produces a fraction of its capacity. We're going to be replacing it, and we're going to take a lot of money out so that we can take care of the country. But the president made clear today was not only about Venezuela. This was about displaying an ability and willingness to enforce regional domination and embracing the early 19th century declaration by President Monroe to block foreign colonialism in the Americas.

They now call it the Donro document. I don't know. Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again. Rubio made clear the next possible target. Yeah, look, I lived in Havana and I was in the government. I'd be concerned. And to critics who question whether a president who was elected in part to avoid foreign entanglements...

Why is running a country in South America first? Well, I think it is because we want to surround ourselves with good neighbors. We want to surround ourselves with stability. We want to surround ourselves with energy. We have tremendous energy in that country. Regime change not for democracy, but for energy and for its own sake. As the question tonight in Caracas and perhaps around the world, now what? For the PBS News Hour, I'm Nick Schifrin.

Earlier this afternoon, I spoke to feature story news reporter Mary Trini Mina in Venezuela's capital, Caracas. Thank you so much for joining us. We are speaking a few hours before our show airs. It's been an extraordinary day in Venezuela. Today, what has it been like on the ground? Well, Venezuelans woke up hearing loud sounds rumbling across the city. It was a complex situation. from early hours. It began at 150 local time. It lasted for about 45 minutes. I heard,

I personally heard planes, airplanes, and these detonations that kept happening for about 45 minutes. It was a difficult situation, very complex with a law of information, a lack of information coming from the government of Nicolas Maduro. Later on, They released an statement saying that this was an aggression perpetrated by the U.S. And according to the Venezuelan government, the sole purpose of this kinetic strike was to gain control of Venezuelan oil resources. This ended up with the extraction of the leader of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and also his wife, Celia Flores. Here in Caracas, there's been moments of quiet. Most people have decided to remain at home considering the event, today's events.

And also, some people have decided to go to the streets, mostly the supporters of Nicolas Maduro. We need to remember that the Maduro government were bracing for a situation like this for many months now. And the former leader of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, told his supporters that in case he was not present, the people should go out to the streets. Well, we are witnesses like small gatherings in Caracas, mostly, and the majority of Venezuelans remain at home waiting what is going to happen in the coming hours. We have about 45 seconds left. President Trump today said that the U.S. is going to be running Venezuela. Is there any evidence on the ground that the United States is now in charge? No, there is no evidence so far. The Venezuelan Vice President Del C. Rodriguez appear on television saying that she is running the country,

that they are not happy with, of course, what happened, and they will not surrender. We are calling this a kidnapping of the one and only legitimate president of Venezuela, that they will keep continuing running the country. She appeared on television surrounded by members of the military forces and the main heads of the Maduro government or lawyers to Nicolas Maduro. Mary Trina Mina with FSN, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Now we turn to James Story, who spent 25 years in the U.S. State Department

and most recently served as the top U.S. diplomat to Venezuela. Ambassador, thank you so much for being with us. Clearly, the military achieved its mission here. But as you wrote today, tactical victories do not portend success in terms of the wider strategy. How do you think the strategy is playing out so far? Well, the first question is, what's the desired instate? And is the desired in-state is regime change, but we don't have that. What you have is a removal of the top of the state?

regime where you cut the head off one part of the head of a hydra, and you have the rest of the regime in power. Very laudatory words about Deli Rodriguez, but at the end of the day, Delci has been very adamant that what we did was kidnapped Nicholas Maduro. So it remains to be seen exactly what the in-state we're seeking is. Yeah, so what do you make of the fact that President Trump today said that Rodriguez was planning to work with the United States? And then just a few hours later, she said basically exactly the opposite. Well, it is curious. I don't know if this is the case of the dog that didn't bark or the dog that barks too much. But at the end of the day, what the president also said was that if we

didn't have the right kind of support, there would be a second wave of attacks. For me, there's a clear indicator here. Are the wrongfully detained American citizens being released? and are the political and military prisoners that are being held in the torture center called the Helecoide, are they being released? And if they're not, then this is just the same regime by different leadership. I'd like to play for you some sound from Democratic Senator Tim Kane today, who criticized this, as did many other critics, saying that this was illegal and unwise. Take a listen. When the United States engages in unlawful attacks on other nations' sovereignty, it sends a message to the worst dictators in the world. that they can do so as well.

And I don't want the United States to send the message that anything goes. I want the United States to send a message that supports human rights and the rule of law. So, Ambassador, what message does this send? Well, I think Senator Kane is exactly right on this. I have a lot of respect for Senator Kane. This is a bad message. I mean, what are the Chinese thinking right now about Taiwan? And certainly, if you look at the Russians, they invaded a sovereign nation.

Ukraine three years ago, over three years ago now, in front of the entire world. So we've lost a moral high ground on these issues. For me, this was about democracy. Baduro lost an election last year. It was about human rights. He is confronted with crimes against humanity. It was about narcotics trafficking, of course. But it was also about 9 million Venezuelans who have had to flee to seek a better life.

That's 25% of the population of that country. It was about all those things. Yeah, the president goes on TV today to say it's about oil. So this is very disconcerting. I'd like to return to what you said earlier about the head of the hydra being cut off, but the rest of it remaining. Certainly other ministers who were part of the Maduro regime are still intact, the director of the internal security force,

the director of the semi-official motorcycle gangs known as the collectivo. So really, what do you make and can you expand on how much change this is ultimately going to lead to on the ground, given that the rest of the Maduro regime remains intact? Well, I'm talking to people on the ground in Caracas, and they would love to go out and celebrate the end of Maduro's dictatorial regime, yet they're fearful to do so because they know the diastatic Cabello and Freddie Bernal and the rest of these people who are specially designated nationals, and the SDN list from Treasury, they're sanctioned people, are liable to unleash these collectivos, these motorcycle gangs, semi-official motorcycle gangs that are heavily armed to go out and intimidate them and potentially to begin a bloodbath. So you're not going to see the kind of natural reaction to a really despised figure. Maduro is a despised figure. We can debate the legality all day long. He lost an election. He is not particularly well-liked inside of Venezuela, but the people of Venezuela are very nervous to do anything because the regime is still

intact. Ambassador James Story, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. In today's other news, Iran's supreme leader vowed today to crack down on demonstrators following days of protests. In his first public remarks since they began, Ayatollah Ali Hameini said rioters must be, quote, put in their place. Demonstrations will soon stretch into their second week as the country's currency, the Rial, plummets. On Friday, President Trump warned Iran the U.S. would come to the rescue of any peaceful protesters who face violence. President Trump also weighed in on the war in Ukraine today, saying he's frustrated with Russian president Vladimir Putin. He told reporters Putin is killing too many people. That comes as European national security advisors convened in Kiev to discuss the latest peace proposals.

The U.S. is currently behind a diplomatic push to end the almost four-year-old war. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet with European leaders next Tuesday in Paris. Still to come on PBS News Weekend, why the city of San Francisco is suing the nation's top food manufacturers over ultra-processed foods. And how the Census Bureau counts every last person, even in the most remote parts of the U.S. This is PBS News Weekend from the David M. Rubenstein studio at WETA in Washington, home of the PBS News Hour, weeknights on PBS. San Francisco is the kind of heavily democratic city that the Trump administration often targets. But there's one issue they agree on. They're both taking aim at ultra-processed food.

In the first lawsuit of its kind, San Francisco is suing 11 of the nation's top food companies, saying they sell ultra-processed food knowing that they are harmful to health. By some estimates, more than 60% of the food consumed in the United States is ultra-processed. A growing body of scientific research says, diets high in ultra-processed food lead to chronic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and depression. Earlier, John Yang spoke with Ashley Gearhart, a University of Michigan psychology professor who studies addiction. Ashley, we just heard the San Francisco city attorneys say that ultra-processed foods are designed to be addictive. Do you agree? Yes, in my lab that

we see that these products can really trigger all the core signs of addiction, that loss of control, those intense cravings that continue to use, even though you know it may be killing or harming you. How do they do that? What are in the foods that make people addicted to it? Yeah, there's a certain addiction playbook that's been used from tobacco to opiates to sports betting. You take something that exists, typically exist in nature, like a plant or, you know, a fruit,

and you alter it. So it gives just this just right dose of reward. It stimulates you, but doesn't fully satisfy you, so you want to keep coming back for more. You can titrate the smell, the flavor, the taste, and then you flood the environment with it. So your consumers, even if they have a slight moment of temptation, the product is right at arm's reach, and the next thing they know they're using again. This is what's happened to our food supply when big tobacco really took over in the 70s and 80s, and those same levers have been used to create ultra-processed foods that are now,

killing 1,400 Americans every day. You say when big tobacco took over food, what do you mean by that? In the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds started buying up the big food companies, like craft and general foods. They created some of your favorite products and marketed them like Hawaiian Punch and Lunchables. And there's evidence even from researchers like Laura Schmidt, who has found that they have applied technologies, flavorants, marketing strategies that were honed to sell tobacco products and have applied them to the ultra-processed food holdings. They divested some of these food companies in the mid-2000s,

but the stamp of big tobacco on our food supply has never changed. It's actually just amplified over time and fundamentally change the food that we eat. Should it be regulated the way tobacco is now? Yeah, when I read things that the food industry is saying, you know, they're talking a lot about how to turn cravings into corporate profits. Or they'll say, you know, indulgence has really been a main profit margin for us. That's a big driver of how we're making money. And so we've needed time and time again for the government to step in and put some guardrails on those sorts of companies. So we and our children can live happy, sustainable, nourished lives. rather than being in these cycles of just craving and crashing that doesn't benefit us, but does benefit those corporations. Some critics say that the term ultra-processed food lacks a definition. It's too broad, that it scoops up a lot of products that may actually be healthy and exclude some than aren't.

What do you say to that? The problem that's happening right now is when we just focus on specific nutrients like sugar or fat, the industry's been able to use that to do nutrient, wackamol. They can pull so many different levers and distract us. So we're eating ultra-processed junk that isn't nourishing us from, you know, low-carb diet Coke to, you know, low-fat snack wells. And we're forgetting what is real food. And ultra-processed food by being this paradigm shift of really showing what that category is has really changed the name of the game and helped us work in a way that

reflects the complexity of the industrial processes that we're now faced with. You talk about the nutrients and food. It used to be the diet research focused on the nutrients and food. Is enough being done about how food is processed, how food is made? Yeah, this is where the field is really moving. I mean, we're realizing that ultra processing is a pathway that you can simultaneously pull all of those levers of sugars and fats and salts, but it's not just that. The ultra-processing can speed up the absorption of those rewarding nutrients into the body in ways that your home cook can't. One thing I've been learning a lot about recently is things like enzymatic processing that essentially resembles a little bit of the enzymes

in your saliva or your digestive tract, but that can be applied in food processing in a way that makes it more rapidly be absorbed into your system. Grandma's homemade cookies, we're never delivering that sort of intensity. We see that a lot with the flavor additives and the way that the industry can create just so many varieties. I mean, the last time you've gone to the potato chip aisle, you know, there's dozens and dozens of these engineered flavors that are meant to burst into your mouth, but then fade super rapidly so all of a sudden you finish that whole bag of potato chips. This is uncharted territory, and the technology is just advanced to such a stage that we need greater protections.

Ultra-processed foods are so ubiquitous, so pervasive. Can anything really be done to curb this? Yes. I feel great optimism and hope. And a large part of that reason is because the United States is an outlier, where the majority of our food is now ultra-processed, countries like Italy and Greece, they don't have this. Less than 20% of their food supply is ultra-processed.

We created this problem by what we've invested in, what our governments put its money in, what we've incentivized companies to do. We absolutely have the levers to start to invest in real food that's convenient, affordable, and tasty, just like other countries get so we can be strong and healthy and happy going into the future. Ashley Gerhard at the University of Michigan, thank you very much. My pleasure. Thank you so much for chatting with me. Finally tonight, the next major U.S. National Census is in 2030, but this year the Census Bureau will be conducting field tests to try to come up with better ways to count the most hard-to-reach populations. Places like remote Alaska were during the last census, officials came up with an innovative plan to count one of the most remote villages in that state.

Here's Matt Phobian from PBS Alaska. Alaska is known as the last frontier for its harsh winters and vast remote landscapes. But for more than 150 years, it's also been, by tradition, the first place Americans are counted in the national census. In 2020, it all began in the small town of Nunakoyek, known in English as Tuktsuk Bay, located along the state's southwest coast by the Bering Sea. That year, the U.S. Census counted just 672 people. Most of them are Alaska Natives, members of the Yupic people. Including James Sipri, whose family has lived in this area for generations. This village used to be a fishing camp, and my grandfather's camp winter and summer for the survival of his families.

Today, survival for many in Toxic Bay depends on federal and state funding. Get the rest of the stuff. Vital resources that help cover the cost of housing, health clinics, and supplies for the only school here. But as state demographer David Howell explains, in order to fairly dull out these funds, an accurate census is a must. And in remote Alaska, that's no simple task. These places are not on the road system most of the time. You're flying in or boating in. Rivers become highways for snow machines.

So during the last census, in addition to the traditional door-to-door outreach, they tried something else for the first time. They gave residents the option to submit information by mail or online instead. All census responses are completely confidential. But their efforts to solve one problem quickly created another. Residents voiced concerns about sharing sensitive personal data. They worried their information could be intercepted in the mail or hacked online, and their identities stolen.

It turns out those concerns were not unfounded. The state had simulated an attack on resident's census data years earlier. A scenario in which if this data was stolen from the Bureau, how many records could you match to the actual population? And so they were able to match quite a high number. The U.S. Census came up with a plan to address the residents of Nunakoyek's concerns. They embraced a cutting-edge mathematical algorithm called differential privacy. It compiles the big-picture data statistics of a group,

while protecting specific private information of each individual. It's kind of like if we took a high-resolution picture of this Yupik dance group. We can see facial features that could expose people's identities. The algorithm adds digital noise to blur a few faces slightly, or adds static to the overall photo, and the quality is lowered just enough to protect everyone's identities. The Census Bureau applied that photo-altering principle to Toksuk Bay in 2020. They say it helped ease residents' fears and protected their identities.

It also produced an accurate count, which made sure needed funding got to the right places. And it's very prohibitively expensive to build. With these grants, they're able to build more homes for people, build community centers. Just all sorts of projects are grant funded. If your population is off, you may not get approved for such a thing. Elder James Sipri is excited about how accurate census data can help tackle the desperate needs of his community. The very important things that I would have. like to see is the native workforce development prepare our people for their future as we journey

on forward to win for life. As the census prepares for the next count in 2030, residents in Alaska's most remote places like Toxic Bay know they will be counted and their individual privacy will not be compromised. For PBS News Weekend, I'm Matt Fabian in Toxic Bay, Alaska. In an update, today's top story, the plane carrying Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife has landed in New York City. And that's our program for tonight. I'm Allie Rogan for all of my colleagues. Thank you for joining us. See you tomorrow.