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Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials briefed leaders in Congress late Monday on the striking military operation in Venezuela amid mounting concerns that President Donald Trump is embarking on a new era of U.S. expansionism without consultation with lawmakers or a clear vision for running the South American country.
After the briefing, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he doesn’t expect the United States to deploy troops to Venezuela, emphasizing that U.S. actions there are “not a regime change” operation.
Democratic leaders said the session lacked clarity about the Trump administration’s plans for Venezuela. Sen. Chuck Schumer said the session “posed far more questions than it answered.”
Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in a U.S. courtroom Monday.
Here’s the latest:
Florida looking ‘very seriously’ at bringing state charges against Maduro, Gov. Ron DeSantis says
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is looking at whether a state criminal case can be built against Maduro for sending criminals to the state of Florida, the Republican governor said Tuesday at a news conference in Clearwater, Florida.
“He would empty his prisons and send them to America, across the border, and we’d end up with some of these people in Florida,” DeSantis said. “So, to me, that is a very hostile act, so we’re looking at statues to see.”
Florida’s Venezuelan population of under a half million people is the largest among any U.S. state.
Maduro pleaded not guilty Monday to federal drug trafficking charges in New York, two days after he and his wife were seized from their Caracas home in a middle-of-the-night military operation.
Colombian officials will meet US envoy amid tensions over the Venezuela attack
Colombia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Rosa Villavicencio said Tuesday she’ll meet with the U.S. embassy’s Charge D’Affaires in Bogota to present him with a formal complaint over the recent “threats” issued by the United States against Colombia.
On Sunday, Trump said he wasn’t ruling out an attack on Colombia and described its president, who’s been an outspoken critic of U.S. operations in Venezuela, as a “sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
At a news conference, the Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister said however, that she’s hoping to strengthen relations with the United States and improve cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking, echoing comments made Monday by several members of Colombia’s cabinet.
“It is necessary for the Trump administration to know in more detail, about all that we are doing in the fight against drug trafficking,” Villavicencio said.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum calls for ‘fair trial’ of Maduro in the US
She was speaking during her morning press briefing Tuesday.
The leftist leader has been incredibly diplomatic in navigating larger regional geopolitical tensions, seeking to maintain a strong relationship with Trump while also firmly opposing American intervention in the region.
When asked by journalists, Sheinbaum described Maduro’s declaration that he was innocent in a New York court as “interesting.”
“Now that President Maduro has been detained, what we are asking for is a fair trial, as always,” she said after once again condemning the U.S. intervention.
