Tag: perpetual war

Trump Doubles Down, Says Gustavo Petro “Does Have to Watch His Ass” After Threatening to Take Action Against Cocaine Factories

President Trump on Saturday doubled down on past threats to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, saying that he should “watch his ass” after Trump ordered strikes inside Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro, signaling possible actions against Colombia next.

The US military executed strikes and a ground invasion to capture Maduro and his wife on Saturday at approximately 2 am local time, and they were taken prisoner on board the USS Iwo Jima. Maduro was indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges of Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States, the Gateway Pundit reported.

As The Gateway Pundit reported last month, Trump told reporters that Petro needs to “watch his ass” and close the cocaine factories, which “we know where they are,” he said, while making an announcement on shipbuilding at Mar-a-Lago.

WATCH:

Trump: He has to watch, because, you know, he’s got drug factories. They make cocaine in Colombia, and he’s no friend of the United States. He’s very bad, very bad guy, and he’s got to watch his ass, because he makes cocaine and they send it into the United States of America from Colombia. We love the Colombian people. I love the Colombian people. They’re great people, energetic, smart, great, but their new leader is a troublemaker, and he better watch it. They better close up those cocaine factories. They have at least three major cocaine factories. We know where they are. He better close them up fast.

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Communist NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Gets LIT UP After He Weighs in on the Capture of Venezuelan Tyrant Nicolas Maduro

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is having an awful day after seeing his fellow communist, Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, captured by U.S. forces this morning.

As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier, a series of explosions rocked Caracas and other cities in Venezuela signal the start of the US campaign against the Maduro’s evil Marxist regime.

Low-flying aircraft could be heard, as well as air raid sirens. Bright flashes could be seen in at least six locations, including Fort Tiuna army base and La Carlota Air Base, where power outages hit some neighborhoods.

U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during the raid. As TGP’s Jordan Conradson reported, both have been indicted in the Southern District of New York.

Mamdani took to X this afternoon to whine about the incredibly successful mission and express ‘worry’ about the Venezuelans residing in New York City.

“I was briefed this morning on the U.S. military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, as well as their planned imprisonment in federal custody here in New York City,” he wrote. “Unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law.”

“This blatant pursuit of regime change doesn’t just affect those abroad, it directly impacts New Yorkers, including tens of thousands of Venezuelans who call this city home,” he added. “My focus is their safety and the safety of every New Yorker, and my administration will continue to monitor the situation and issue relevant guidance.”

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UN Security Council to Hold Emergency Meeting at Colombia’s Request with Russia and China’s Support – Maduro Also Expected in Court Monday

The United Nations Security Council plans to hold an emergency meeting at the request of Colombia, Russia, and China to discuss the United States’ operation in Venezuela, which ended in the capture of Nicolas Maduro. 

Colombia reportedly requested the meeting, with support from Russia and China, the BBC reported.

“The attendees have not yet been confirmed, but may include the UN Secretary-General António Guterres,” per the BBC.

The US military executed strikes and a ground invasion to capture Maduro and his wife on Saturday at approximately 2 am local time, and they were taken prisoner on board the USS Iwo Jima.

Maduro was indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges of Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States, the Gateway Pundit reported.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, President Trump earlier told reporters that Colombia’s Gustavo Petro needs to “watch his ass” because of the cocaine factories in his country, seemingly warning him of similar operations in Colombia.

Trump has also floated the idea of striking Colombian cocaine factories and launching strikes into Mexico to stop the cartels, saying, “I would be proud to do it, personally.”

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Trump issues thinly veiled warning to Mexico, slams Cuba, Colombia after US strikes Venezuela, arrests Maduro

President Trump issued a thinly-veiled warning to Mexico’s president Saturday while announcing the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro Saturday.

Trump, who also had strong words for the leaders of Colombia and Cuba,  said the attack on Venezuela wasn’t meant to be a warning for Mexico, but said “something’s going to have to be done” about the cartel-run country.

Trump has clashed with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo over trade tariffs, and blamed the US neighbor for allowing illegal immigration and narcotics to flow across the southern border.

“We’re very friendly with her, she’s a good woman,” Trump told Fox & Friends Saturday. “But the cartels are running Mexico — she’s not running Mexico.”

Sheinbaum said Mexico “strongly condemns and rejects” US military action in Venezuela and urged the US to end “all acts of aggression against the Venezuelan government and people,” in a statement released Saturday.

Trump also doubled down on his warning to Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

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Zelensky To Dismiss Security Service Head Malyuk, Responsible for Kiev’s High-Profile Assassinations: REPORT

MSM treats Kiev’s assassinations like the most normal thing in the world.

As Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky continues with his reshuffle of his administration, he will, once again, move one of his top intel people around – in this case, reportedly dismissing him.

After appointing top spy Kyrylo Budanov as his new chief of staff, today it arises that Zelensky means to remove Vasyl Malyuk as head of the infamous Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the state’s top counterintelligence agency.

Politico reported:

“The reshuffle has already seen two other top spies — Kyrylo Budanov and Oleh Ivashchenko — shifted to other responsibilities. Budanov has agreed to head the president’s office, while Ivashchenko will be chief of the HUR military intelligence service.”

But there’s a catch: Malyuk is reportedly attempting to retain his current post.

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Trump: U.S. Will ‘Run’ Venezuela Until ‘Proper Transition Can Take Place’

President Donald Trump announced the United States will “run” Venezuela until the time allows for a “judicious transition” just hours after American forces captured the country’s now-former dictator, Nicolás Maduro, in operation “Absolute Resolve.”

Trump made the announcement during a highly anticipated press conference at Mar-a-Lago while flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years,” Trump said.

He added that an eventual transition “has to be judicious because that’s what we’re all about.”

“We want peace, liberty, and justice for the great people of Venezuela, and that includes many from Venezuela that are now living in the United States and want to go back to their country. It’s their homeland,” he said.

Trump emphasized that the risk of a Maduro-like figure gaining power now cannot be taken.

“We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind…we’re not going to let that happen,” the president said.

He reiterated, “We’re there now, but we’re going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place… We‘re going to run it, essentially, until such time as a proper transition can take place.”

“We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” Trump said at the presser.

Trump announced the capture of Maduro, who administration officials say was the head of the Cartel of the Suns, and his wife, Cilia Flores, early Saturday morning on Truth Social, and subsequently shared a picture of Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima in American custody.

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Tracking congressional criticism of Trump’s attack on Venezuela

On Saturday, the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and carried out airstrikes across Venezuela. We are keeping track of notable criticism of this attack from members of Congress.

Republicans

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)

“If this action were constitutionally sound, the Attorney General wouldn’t be tweeting that they’ve arrested the President of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 U.S. firearm law.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

“Mexican cartels are primarily and overwhelmingly responsible for killing Americans with deadly drugs.

If U.S. military action and regime change in Venezuela was really about saving American lives from deadly drugs then why hasn’t the Trump admin taken action against Mexican cartels?

And if prosecuting narco terrorists is a high priority then why did President Trump pardon the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted and sentenced for 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into America? Ironically cocaine is the same drug that Venezuela primarily traffics into the U.S. […]

Regime change, funding foreign wars, and American’s tax dollars being consistently funneled to foreign causes, foreigners both home and abroad, and foreign governments while Americans are consistently facing increasing cost of living, housing, healthcare, and learn about scams and fraud of their tax dollars is what has most Americans enraged. Especially the younger generations. Boomers and half of Gen X will cheer on neocon wars and talking points, but the other half of Gen X and majority on down see through it and hate it. […]

This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end.

Boy were we wrong.”

Democrats

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)

“The administration has assured me three separate times that it was not pursuing regime change or taking military action in Venezuela. Clearly, they are not being straight with Americans.

The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans. The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.

The administration must brief Congress immediately on its objectives, and its plan to prevent a humanitarian and geopolitical disaster that plunges us into another endless war or one that trades one corrupt dictator for another.”

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.)

“Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth looked every Senator in the eye a few weeks ago and said this wasn’t about regime change. I didn’t trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress. Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war.

This strike doesn’t represent strength. It’s not sound foreign policy. It puts Americans at risk in Venezuela and the region, and it sends a horrible and disturbing signal to other powerful leaders across the globe that targeting a head of state is an acceptable policy for the U.S. government. This will further damage our reputation – already hurt by Trump’s policies around the world – and only isolate us in a time when we need our friends and allies more than ever.”

“Americans across the political spectrum must reject Trump’s plan for the U.S. to ‘run the country’ of Venezuela.

This is a disastrous plan. We have seen this show before and it did not end well.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

“Trump’s attack on Venezuela will make the United States and the world less safe. This brazen violation of international law gives a green light to any nation on earth that may wish to attack another country to seize their resources or change their governments. This is the horrific logic of force that Putin used to justify his brutal attack on Ukraine.

Trump and his administration have often said they want to revive the Monroe Doctrine, claiming the United States has the right to dominate the affairs of the hemisphere. They have spoken openly about controlling Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world. This is rank imperialism. It recalls the darkest chapters of U.S. interventions in Latin America, which have left a terrible legacy. It will and should be condemned by the democratic world.

Trump campaigned for president on an “America First” platform. He claimed to be the “peace candidate.” At a time when 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, when our healthcare system is collapsing, when people cannot afford housing and when AI threatens millions of jobs, it is time for the president to focus on the crises facing this country and end this military adventurism abroad. Trump is failing in his job to “run” the United States. He should not be trying to “run” Venezuela.”

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Trump hints at his next target for a military operation after stunning capture of Maduro

Communist-run Cuba may be the next country to have an American-made regime change, President Donald Trump floated at a press conference addressing the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.

‘I think Cuba is going to be something we’ll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation right now, very badly failing nation, and we want to help the people,’ Trump said when asked if the operation in Venezuela contained a message to the island nation. 

‘That system has not been a very good one for Cuba,’ the president continued. ‘The people there have suffered for many, many years.’

After Joe Biden removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism last year, Trump quickly reinstated the designation within his first days in office and reapplied economic sanctions. 

The U.S.-Cuba relationship remains strained as the island nation is under a strict embargo, preventing goods from reaching the socialist state.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is the son of Cuban refugees who fled during the nation’s communist revolution, doubled down, warning that the nation’s leadership should be worried. 

‘Suffice it to say, you know, Cuba is a disaster,’ Rubio said at the press conference. ‘It’s run by incompetent, senile men.’ 

‘If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned, at least a little bit,’ the secretary of state added. 

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The $60 Billion Question: Is Venezuela Secretly A Bitcoin Superpower?

Alex Saab may control $60 billion in Bitcoin for the Maduro regime. As Trump’s naval blockade tightens, the real battle is being fought on the blockchain.

Nicolás Maduro is in U.S. custody. In the early hours of Saturday morning, Delta Force operators dragged the Venezuelan president and his wife from their bedroom in Caracas and flew them to the USS Iwo Jima, now steaming toward New York where Maduro will face drug trafficking and weapons charges in federal court.

But as Washington celebrates the most dramatic U.S. military operation in Latin America since the 1989 Panama invasion, a more urgent question is emerging in intelligence circles: Where is the money?

For years, Maduro and his inner circle systematically looted Venezuela—billions in oil revenue, gold reserves, and state assets—and, according to sources with direct knowledge of the operation, converted much of it into cryptocurrency.

The man who allegedly orchestrated that conversion, who built the shadow financial architecture that kept the regime alive under crushing sanctions, is not on that ship.

His name is Alex Saab.

And he may be the only person on Earth who knows how to access what sources estimate could be as much as $60 billion in Bitcoin—a figure that, if verified, would make the Maduro regime’s hidden fortune one of the largest cryptocurrency holdings on the planet, rivaling MicroStrategy and potentially exceeding El Salvador’s entire national reserve.

The claim comes from HUMINT sources and has not been confirmed through blockchain analysis, but the underlying math is provocative.

Venezuela exported 73.2 tons of gold in 2018 alone — roughly $2.7 billion at the time. If even a fraction of that was converted to Bitcoin when prices hovered between $3,000 and $10,000, and held through the 2021 peak of $69,000, the returns would be staggering.

Sources familiar with the operation describe a systematic effort to convert gold proceeds into cryptocurrency through Turkish and Emirati intermediaries, then move the assets through mixers and cold wallets beyond the reach of Western enforcement.

The keys to those wallets, sources say, are held by a small circle of trusted operatives—with Saab at the center.

What Washington didn’t know—and what court documents would later reveal—was that Saab had been a DEA informant since 2016, even as he built Maduro’s shadow financial empire.

Now, with Maduro captured, the question becomes: Will Saab cooperate again? Or will he disappear with the keys to Venezuela’s stolen fortune?

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Trump: We Are in Venezuela Now, and We Are Going to Stay

Following a military operation that captured President Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump said the US would run Venezuela until an acceptable government is set up. 

“We are going to run [Venezuela] until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in and we have the same situation that we had,” the President said on Saturday. “We are there now, and we are going to stay until the proper transition takes place.”

Trump went on to say that the US is prepared to attack Venezuela again. “We are ready to stage a second, much larger attack if we need to do so.” He continued, “All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand what happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them if they aren’t fair.”

The President did not name a new leader of Venezuela. However, María Corina Machado said, “Today we are prepared to enforce our mandate and take power.” Machado is a Venezuelan opposition figure who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025. She has endorsed US sanctions and military action against Venezuela. 

Trump did say he had not spoken with Machado, adding that she doesn’t have the respect needed to lead the country. 

Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said following the attack that she had activated Maduro’s military plans. “The first thing President Maduro told the people of Venezuela was ‘people to the streets,’ activated as militia, activating all the Nation’s comprehensive defense plans,” the vice president said. “No one will undermine the historic legacy of our Liberator father, Simon Bolivar. The people of Venezuela, in perfect national unity, must mobilize to defend their natural resources and what is most sacred: their right to independence and to the future.”

Trump claimed his administration spoke with Rodriguez, who agreed to work with the US. 

When asked by the press, Trump refused to give a timeline on how long American control over Venezuela would last. The President said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth would act as the viceroys of Venezuela.

Trump added that he was willing to deploy American troops to occupy the South American nation. “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” the President explained. He claimed Washington would pay for the occupation of Venezuela with profits from the country’s oil. 

Trump said no Americans were killed and no military equipment was lost in the operation that captured Maduro early Saturday. Caracas has not reported on the Venezuelan casualties from the American raid and strikes. 

Trump said he ordered the attack on Venezuela because Maduro was trafficking narcotics to the US, hosting Washington’s adversaries, and stealing American oil. Venezuela is not a major drug trafficking hub and is not listed by the Drug Enforcement Agency as responsible for fentanyl entering the US. 

The President and Rubio suggested a similar operation could take place in Cuba. 

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