Category: Maduro
DEBRIEFED: Mamdani Claimed He Was ‘Briefed’ on Maduro Raid, Now Admits He Has No Federal Clearance
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani acknowledged Monday that he does not have a federal security clearance, one day after claiming he had been “briefed” about the U.
RUBIO RIPS BRENNAN: Sec. of State is Ready After CBS Host Presses on Maduro Op Limits [WATCH]
![RUBIO RIPS BRENNAN: Sec. of State is Ready After CBS Host Presses on Maduro Op Limits [WATCH]](https://hannity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Rubio-300x167.png "Rubio")
Margaret Brennan came in with a question.
‘DECENT’ DICTATOR? Maduro Pleads Not Guilty, Says He’s a Good Man Who Was ‘Kidnapped’
According to a New York Post report, Nicolás Maduro pleaded Not Guilty during his appearance in New York federal court on Monday.
![WALTZ ON WORLD STAGE: Maduro ‘Was a Law Enforcement Action,’ Blasts UN — ‘What Kind of Organization Is This?!’ [WATCH]](https://hannity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/GettyImages-2254783185-300x200.jpg "United Nations Security Council Meets In New York To Discuss U.S. Incursion Into Venezuela")
Judge Cuts Off Ousted Venezuelan Dictator Maduro As He Tries To Defend Himself In Court
‘I am the president of Venezuela’
‘Very sick too’: Trump sets sights on more countries after successful Venezuela operation
Over the weekend, the Trump administration successfully captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. In the hours and days following the successful operation, Trump suggested that Venezuela is only the start of his efforts to retake control of the Western Hemisphere.
Talking to the press aboard Air Force One on Sunday night, President Trump set his sights on two more countries that he says need to be reined in.
‘Sounds good to me.’
“Colombia is very sick too. Run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you,” Trump said to reporters aboard Air Force One.
RELATED: ‘We’re going to run it’: Trump reveals Venezuela’s fate following Maduro’s capture
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Trump suggested that the president of Colombia runs “cocaine mills and cocaine factories,” but they will not be running for much longer.
When asked if there would be an operation in Colombia to cut off the alleged drug trafficking and corruption, Trump told reporters, “Sounds good to me.”
Trump added that Cuban leadership has “only survived because of Venezuela” when asked if similar operations were planned in the country.
Similarly President Trump on Sunday added that “we need Greenland for national security.”
“If you take a look at Greenland … you have Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” Trump said.
On Monday morning, Trump reiterated the message that the United States needs Greenland for “national security.” Trump lightly mocked Denmark’s handling of the territory, saying, “You know what Denmark did recently to boost up security in Greenland? They added one more dog sled. It’s true!”
The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer has signaled his disapproval of Trump’s push for Greenland. Starmer told the BBC Monday that “only Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark” should “decide the future of Greenland.”
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Maduro captured following ‘large scale strike’ in Venezuela, Trump says
Nicolás Maduro was “captured and flown out” of Venezuela after the United States carried out another strike, President Donald Trump announced.
After months of anticipation and several strikes against alleged drug cartel boats, Trump greenlit the most aggressive military action of his second term in office.
‘Maduro was arrested by American officials and will stand trial in the United States.’
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country,” Trump announced Saturday.
“This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Details to follow.”
Trump is expected to speak at a Mar-A-Lago press conference at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
RELATED: Trump says US struck drug-linked site in Venezuela: ‘We hit them very hard’
Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with several Republican senators about the capture, noting that Maduro was arrested by American officials and will stand trial in the United States.
“[Rubio] informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant,” Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said in a post on X. “This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack.”
“The interim government in Venezuela must now decide whether to continue the drug trafficking and colluding with adversaries like Iran and Cuba or whether to act like a normal nation and return to the civilized world,” Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said in a post on X. “I urge them to choose wisely.”
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Trump’s boat strikes may leave one Venezuelan drug-smuggling pirate haven in ruins
The Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal drug smuggling has reportedly prompted an economic collapse of one Venezuelan city.
Güiria, a port city dependent on the smuggling of illicit narcotics and other contraband, is facing economic challenges following the Trump administration’s strikes on suspected drug trafficking boats.
‘Everything is practically dead.’
The administration has launched numerous strikes in the Caribbean Sea in waters close to Venezuela in an effort to end the trafficking of drugs into the U.S.
“As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes,'” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stated. “The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”
“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict — and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” Hegseth added.
Several Güiria residents claim the strikes have brought their town’s economy to a standstill, according to a Friday report from Reuters.
RELATED: Trump confirms call with Maduro after report of alleged regime-change ultimatum
Pete Hegseth. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The news outlet noted that Güiria “survives mostly on maritime smuggling of contraband, including drugs,” and it is also “partly sustained by informal trade in food and other goods with Trinidad and Tobago.”
“There was only movement in stores recently because of government bonus payments; otherwise, there’s no money circulating,” a food store clerk told Reuters.
“No boats of any kind are leaving for Trinidad and Tobago any more — not migrants, not people buying goods there to sell here, and certainly not those taking Venezuelan products to sell there, which was another way to make money. Everything is practically dead,” she stated.
Nicolas Maduro. Photo by Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Images
The residents also reported an increase in the number of security personnel in the town since mid-September.
“They pass through the same areas many times, at all hours. Before, they weren’t so persistent; now they’re everywhere all the time,” a community leader told Reuters, referring to the security personnel.
“They’re all organized by the government — civilians and police go together supervising the streets,” another individual told the news outlet. “Everything seems calm except for the increased surveillance in the town.”
President Donald Trump has reportedly presented Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro with an ultimatum to relinquish control and flee the country.
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Trump confirms call with Maduro after report of alleged regime-change ultimatum
President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that he recently spoke with Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president whom the State Department recently identified as the leader of a foreign terrorist organization and for whom the U.S. is offering a $50 million bounty.
Trump would not elaborate on the nature or details of the call, which reportedly occurred last week. When asked whether it went well, Trump said, “I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call.”
‘That’s going to start very soon.’
Sources allegedly familiar with the exchange told the Miami Herald that the White House gave Maduro an ultimatum: “Safe passage would be guaranteed for him, his wife Cilia Flores, and his son only if he agreed to resign right away.”
The leadership in Caracas reportedly proposed in turn that Maduro surrender control to his political opposition but maintain control of the country’s military.
One source told the Herald that the call amounted to a last-ditch effort to stave off a direct confrontation.
“First, Maduro asked for global amnesty for any crimes he and his group had committed,” said the source. “Second, they asked to retain control of the armed forces — similar to what happened in Nicaragua in ’91 with Violeta Chamorro. In return, they would allow free elections.”
Washington rejected both proposals, and Caracas rejected, in turn, the demand that Maduro resign immediately, said the source.
RELATED: Europeans want US missiles to defend them, not America — and Rubio’s had enough of their hypocrisy
Photo by Gladjimi Balisage/US Navy via Getty Images
The White House did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.
An individual in regular contact with regime officials recently told the Wall Street Journal that Maduro and his cohort largely regard Washington’s threats as a bluff.
The skepticism in Caracas appears misplaced, given that the Trump administration has not only proven willing to blow away scores of alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea, incurring international and domestic condemnations in the process, but has amassed over a dozen warships and 15,000 troops in the region.
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which entered the Caribbean Sea last month, features the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, as well as over 70 aircraft, two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, and an integrated air and missile defense command ship, the destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill, the Navy said.
The carrier strike group joined the two guided-missile destroyers that were already operating in the Caribbean along with a pair of guided-missile cruisers — the USS Lake Erie and the USS Gettysburg — and elements of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, which includes the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.
The source in contact with regime officials told the Journal that Maduro figures the only way the U.S. can remove him from power is by sending troops to Caracas.
In his Thanksgiving Day address to U.S. troops, Trump lauded the efforts of the U.S. Air Force’s 7th Bomb Wing for its efforts to “deter Venezuelan drug traffickers” by sea and hinted at taking the fight ashore, stating, “We’ll be starting to stop them by land.”
“The land is easier,” said Trump. “But that’s going to start very soon.”
On Saturday, Trump said in a social media post, “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
It appears that Caracas may now be taking the Trump administration more seriously.
Venezuela’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday, “Venezuela denounces and condemns the colonialist threat that seeks to affect the sovereignty of its airspace, constituting yet another extravagant, illegal, and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people.”
Citing sources familiar with the matter, CNN indicated that Trump will hold a meeting at the White House on Monday to discuss next steps on Venezuela.
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