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Trump administration to meet with top US oil executives – report
Following the capture, arrest and detention of Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration is set to meet with top US oil executives, according to a report from Reuters – citing a source familiar with the matter.
The aim to revitalize oil production comes after nearly two decades of control by Venezuela over US energy operations in the country.
According to Reuters, the three biggest US oil companies – Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron – have not yet had any conversations with the administration about Maduro’s ouster, per four oil industry executives familiar with the matter. This contradicts Trump’s statements over the weekend that he had already held meetings with “all” the US oil companies, both before and after the Venezuelan leader was seized.
Key events
92-year-old judge overseeing Maduro trial in New York previously ruled against Trump on deportations
The federal judge overseeing the trial of Nicolás Maduro, the deposed Venezuelan president, and his wife, Cilia Flores, is a 92-year-old Clinton appointee who has previously ruled against the Trump administration, blocking its attempt to use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador last year.
The US district court judge, Alvin Hellerstein, ruled last April that alleged Venezuelan gang members facing deportation under the Alien Enemies Act had to get an opportunity to challenge their deportations before being removed from the southern district of New York, where he has served since 1998.
Hellerstein, who was going into his freshman year at the Bronx High School of Science when Donald Trump was born in Queens in 1946, also denied Trump’s effort to have his New York state fraud trial, over illegal payments to an adult film actor, moved to federal court.
The Forward, a newspaper that has tracked the fortunes of New York’s Jewish community since 1897, reports that Hellerstein has spoken about “the role his Jewish identity has played in his life and career, including his work advocating for refuseniks in the former USSR, service as president and chairman of the Board of Jewish Education, and weekly tennis matches with three rabbis”.
In one case, the Forward noted, Hellerstein “declined to accept a guilty plea from Alejandro Orozco, a Mexican national who had unknowingly transported drugs hidden in a truck he was hired to drive. Hellerstein helped connect Orozco with an immigration lawyer, and the man later obtained U.S. citizenship.”
Miranda Bryant
An attack by the United States on a Nato ally would mean the end of both the military alliance and “post-second world war security”, Denmark’s leader has warned, after Donald Trump threatened again to take over Greenland.
Fresh from his military operation in Venezuela, the US president said on Sunday the US needed Greenland “very badly” – renewing fears of a US invasion of the largely autonomous island, which is a former Danish colony and remains part of the Danish kingdom. Greenland’s foreign and security policy continues to be controlled by Copenhagen.
Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, warned on Monday that any US attack on a Nato ally would be the end of “everything”.
“If the United States decides to militarily attack another Nato country, then everything would stop – that includes Nato and therefore post-second world war security,” Frederiksen told Danish television network TV2.
Her comments came after Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, made a bracingly direct statement in which he urged Trump to give up his “fantasies about annexation” and accused the US of “completely and utterly unacceptable” rhetoric, declaring: “Enough is enough.”
Jeffries denounces Trump’s ‘outrageous’ claim that Congress would have leaked plan to attack Venezuela
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House, just told reporters in Washington that it was “outrageous” for Donald Trump to claim that his administration was justified in failing to notify Congress of the planned attack on Venezuela to prevent leaks to the media.
The administration had “a responsibility to notify Congress”, Jeffries said, “and in the context of the United States Constitution, it’s the Congress that has the sole power to declare war. So the Constitution isn’t a matter of inconvenience; it is a requirement.”
“There is no Trump exception to the United States constitution,” said the New York congressman, who hopes to be House speaker after the November elections. “And there’s no evidence that the Trump administration has ever presented of congressional leaders being briefed in a classified setting and that information then being leaked in a way that undermined America’s national security interests.”
Schumer attacks Trump for having ‘no plan’ for what comes next in Venezuela
Speaking on the Senate floor on Monday, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader, attacked the Trump administration for having “no plan” for what comes next in Venezuela, and called Donald Trump’s vague statements that the United States will “run” the country a recipe for “chaos”.
“Maduro is a tyrant, nobody mourns what has happened to him,” Schumer said, in reference to that country’s autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was captured by US forces on Saturday. “But now the crucial question is what comes next for Venezuela and, more importantly, for the United States. Nobody really seems to know. The administration’s story keeps changing by the hour.”
There was, Schumer said, “no plan, no clarity: only chaos.”
“The danger in Venezuela is only beginning,” Schumer added. “Donald Trump has opened a Pandora’s box, and things will get out of hand very quickly. And if Donald Trump tries to do to Colombia and Greenland what he did in Venezuela, the disasters and consequences could compound exponentially.”
Reading from prepared remarks, the Democratic senator from New York tripped over his words several times, at one point referring to “the war in Viet-” before correcting himself to say “the war in Venezuela”.
“The next step for Congress is clear: we must stop Trump’s folly by invoking the War Powers Act,” Schumer said, before pledging to join a push later this week on a war powers resolution that could constrain Trump.
‘Maduro didn’t just tolerate the drug traffickers … he was one of them’: Senate Republicans celebrate arrest and detention of Maduro
Senate Republicans celebrated the arrest and detention of Nicolás Maduro. Calling the deposed Venezuelan leader a “known, indicted, narcoterrorist in league with drug traffickers killing Americans for profit”.
In a post on social media, GOP lawmakers in Congress’s upper chamber said that “Maduro didn’t just tolerate the drug traffickers or lose control of his territory—he was one of them.”
“Republicans are glad he’s gone – but Democrats are furious,” they added.
Trump administration to meet with top US oil executives – report
Following the capture, arrest and detention of Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration is set to meet with top US oil executives, according to a report from Reuters – citing a source familiar with the matter.
The aim to revitalize oil production comes after nearly two decades of control by Venezuela over US energy operations in the country.
According to Reuters, the three biggest US oil companies – Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron – have not yet had any conversations with the administration about Maduro’s ouster, per four oil industry executives familiar with the matter. This contradicts Trump’s statements over the weekend that he had already held meetings with “all” the US oil companies, both before and after the Venezuelan leader was seized.
Justo Robles
Reporting from outside the courthouse in Manhattan:
At a playground across the street from where Nicolás Maduro just pleaded not guilty for drug and weapon charges, Pedro Reyes said that the leader’s capture was welcome news.
Reyes claimed he was kidnapped and shot by Venezuelan military officers in 2014 in Táchira, a mountainous state near the border with Colombia. The Guardian was not able immediately and independently to verify details of Reyes’s account.
“He deserves to be detained and to pay for what his regime did to me, my family and my friends,” said Reyes in Spanish.
After the incident, Reyes said, he migrated along with his wife and first child to Argentina. In 2021, they crossed the US-Mexico border and asked for asylum. They are still awaiting a resolution for their case, Reyes added.
“Let’s be honest, we are happy that Maduro was detained, but this happiness is momentary. There are people still associated with Maduro in Venezuela and as long as they stay, the country will not be free. I already lost family members at the hands of this dictatorship, what guarantees that we will be safe, that my children will be safe if we go back? Nobody,” said Reyes.
The Swiss Federal Government has announced that Switzerland has frozen any “Swiss-based assets linked to Nicolás Maduro”.
In a statement, Swiss authorities said that the Swiss Federal Council had decided to freeze the assets held in Switzerland by Maduro and “other persons associated with him with immediate effect”.
“In doing so, the Federal Council aims to prevent an outflow of assets,” they said. “The asset freeze does not affect members of the current Venezuelan government.”
“Should future legal proceedings reveal that the funds were illicitly acquired, Switzerland will endeavour to ensure that they benefit the Venezuelan people,” the statement continued.
Lawyers representing Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, told CBS News that she is in “good spirits” and that she is “aware that there is a long road ahead and is prepared”.
“We look forward to reviewing and challenging the evidence the government has,” attorney Mark E Donnelly told CBS News in a statement after Flores’ court appearance on Monday. “While we would love to present our side now, we will wait to do so in court at the appropriate time.”
David Smith
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, warned on Monday that the capture of Maduro risked intensifying instability in Venezuela and across the region.
He questioned whether the operation respected the rules of international law.
“I am deeply concerned about the possible intensification of instability in the country, the potential impact on the region, and the precedent it may set for how relations between and among states are conducted,” Guterres said in a statement delivered to the council by UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo.
He urged Venezuelan actors to engage in “inclusive and democratic dialogue” and offered UN support for a peaceful way forward.
Read more about what happened at the meeting here.
Several nations denounce US for ‘crime of aggression’ in Venezuela
David Smith
The US faced widespread condemnation for a “crime of aggression” in Venezuela at the emergency meeting of the United Nations security council on Monday.
Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Eritrea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Spain were among countries that denounced Donald Trump’s decision to launch deadly strikes on Venezuela and snatch its leader, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to stand trial in the US.
“The bombings on Venezuelan territory and the capture of its president cross an unacceptable line,” Sérgio França Danese, the Brazilian ambassador to the UN, told the meeting. “These acts constitute a very serious affront to the sovereignty of Venezuela and set an extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community.”
Trump’s UN ambassador, Mike Waltz, defended the attack as a legitimate “law enforcement” action to execute long-standing criminal indictments against an “illegitimate” leader, not an act of war.
Read more about what happened at the meeting here.
At the United Nations security council meeting earlier today, Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s Ambassador to the UN, described the US action in Venezuela as an “illegitimate armed attack lacking any legal justification”.
Moncada added that “No state can set itself up as a judge, party and executor of the world order … Venezuela is the victim of this attack because of its natural resources.”
Justo Robles
Reporting from outside the courthouse in Manhattan:
Across the street from the federal court, on the other side of the protest area divided by a group of New York police officers, was Izzy McCabe, 21, who arrived this morning in New York all the way from Seattle, Washington.
McCabe is a member of the Freedom Road Socialist organization founded in 1985.
McCabe attended the International People’s Assembly for Sovereignty and Peace of Our Americas in Venezuela a few weeks ago, along with thousands of delegates from countries around the world.
“I spoke with Venezuelans in Venezuela and they are committed to resisting US imperialism because they love their country. They want to stay in control of the destiny of their country,” said McCabe, an American-born protester.
“I am here to protest against US intervention and to remind that there are international laws that need to be respected.”
Justo Robles
Reporting from outside the courthouse in Manhattan:
As Nicolás Maduro pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges at the Manhattan federal court, Alejandro Flores joined other Venezuelans in chants that celebrated the detention of the former Latin American dictator.
Flores, a 34-year-old from Caracas, said he was lucky enough to migrate to the US to pursue an education more than a decade ago, but left behind family relatives who struggled economically. Some of them live today in buildings affected by the US attack that ultimately led to Maduro’s detention, Flores said.
“The fact that Maduro is in court means justice is being served. He is the reason Venezuela saw millions of people leaving their country, looking for something to eat,” said Flores, who now lives in Brooklyn.
“I want to see my country free, I want my Colombian wife to visit my country, I want to have the opportunity to celebrate with my family that still lives there, but if you ask me if Venezuela is free, the answer is: not yet. Venezuelans need to decide who they want as president.”
The first courtroom sketch of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the Manhattan courtroom today has come through the wires.
Here it is:
Delcy Rodríguez, who served as Nicolás Maduro’s vice-president, has just been formally sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president, Reuters is reporting.
According to Reuters, Rodríguez was sworn in by her brother Jorge, who is the head of the national assembly legislature.
A Reuters poll of 1,248 US adults nationwide, released Monday, has found that public opinion on only 33% of respondents said they approve of the US military action to remove Maduro while 34% said that they do not.
Another 33% of respondents selected the “don’t know/skipped” option of the questionnaire.
The survey, conducted on Sunday and Monday, found that 65% of Republicans said that they supported the military action, while only 11% of Democrats and 23% of independents said they were in support of it.
When asked “Are you concerned the US will get too involved in Venezuela?” 72% of US adults surveyed said yes, including 54% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats.
The US state department has posted an image of Donald Trump on social media overlaid with the words, “This is OUR Hemisphere”.
In an accompanying caption, the state department stated: “This is OUR Hemisphere, and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened.”
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