And we are extending our program today until the news conference set to start at 11 a.m. Eastern Time out of Mar-a-Lago.
We are taking your calls throughout this time period up until then on Venezuela, the U.S. attacks that happened.
We're going to continue to take your calls, but we'll take a quick break first.
If you're already on the line, please do stay on the line, and we'll get back to you as soon as we come back.
unidentified
Watch America's Book Club, C-SPAN's bold new original series.
Sunday with our guest, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, only the fifth woman to serve on the high court and author of the book, Listening to the Law.
She joins our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubenstein.
And what do you hope most people will take away from your book?
Irish-American writer Frank McCourt wrote a book in 1996 that was on the New York Times bestseller list for over 100 weeks.
Over the next 20 years, Angela's Ashes sold close to 10 million books worldwide.
It was translated into 24 languages.
McCourt, who was born in New York City, moved with his family to Limerick, Ireland for his childhood years.
Frank McCord died at age 78 in 2009 of melanoma cancer.
He was a guest on the BookNotes television program on September 19th, 1996.
unidentified
We revisit an interview with Frank McCord and his book, Angela's Ashes, a memoir.
BookNotes Plus with our host, Brian Lamb, is available wherever you get your podcasts and on the C-SPAN Now app.
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Venezuela's Strategic Plan00:15:17
unidentified
You're doing a great job.
I enjoy hearing everybody's opinion.
I'm a huge C-SPAN fan.
I listen every morning on the way to work.
I think C-SPAN should be required viewing for all three branches of government.
First of all, if you say hello, C-SPAN, and how you covered the hearings.
Thank you, everyone, at C-SPAN, um, for allowing this interaction with everyday citizens.
It's an amazing show to get real opinions from real people.
Appreciate you guys' non-biased coverage.
I love politics, and I love C-SPAN because I get to hear all the voices.
What President Trump said this morning on Fox News, he said, quote, we were going to do this four days ago, but the weather was not perfect.
The weather has to be perfect.
All of a sudden, it opened up and we said, go.
He adds that when they captured Maduro, he was, quote, in a house that was more like a fortress than a house with solid steel all around.
Reiterating that he doesn't think any U.S. soldiers were killed, Trump adds, quote, a couple of guys were hit, but they came back and they're supposed to be in pretty good shape.
Also, Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife are traveling to New York after being captured by President Trump.
That's what he said to Fox News.
He adds that the pair have been indicted in New York and will travel to the state via helicopter and ship.
Quote, they killed a lot of people and a lot of American people, even people in their own country.
Let's talk to Jonathan in Philadelphia, Independent Line.
Hello, Jonathan.
unidentified
Yes, good morning.
Sorry, I wasn't able to get with the previous guest just to discuss some of the things she was saying.
You know, this country has a long history of wars, lots of wars, and lying about those wars.
Vietnam would be a great example.
The Gulf of Tonkin, that's declassified now.
That war started over lies.
This war seems strange.
You know, when you run into a country and you grab the leader, you're bombing boats, you're seizing oil tankers.
I mean, those are all clearly acts of war.
And so I'm very worried about why we're targeting Venezuela.
Linking it with sort of narco things doesn't make sense because why aren't we doing this to other countries then?
Why aren't we?
So this seems to be very specific to Venezuela.
So again, a previous caller said the logic didn't sort of follow.
The other thing I'm really worried about is the journalism.
You know, I know that C-SPAN likes to say that it's on democracy unfelted.
That's very laughable.
You guys pick the guests very well.
We get very, very pro-corporate, pro-billionaire points of view.
And then you get a smattering of collars with dissent.
But in general, that's a worry.
I don't think we have journalists anymore.
I think we have sort of chained, uncurious dogs.
They think they're free, but they just don't pull very hard.
I do like hearing from callers, but I often go to independent sources.
I like Chris Hedges.
I really wish you guys would bring on Chris Hedges.
I mean, if you guys, again, want to talk about international law following legal experts, we would not be going after Venezuela right now.
We would be going after Israel.
We wouldn't be supplying Israel with weapons.
We would be making sure that they get tried in a court for laws, for breaking laws against war crimes, famine, using famine as a war tool, indiscriminate bombing of urban areas, the mass killing of children and women.
That's what we would be doing.
So I find it very, very, very, I would almost say anti-Semitic of this country, anti-Semitic of C-SPAN and the news media to prosecute a war against Venezuela when Israel is actively doing war crimes, has not had a ceasefire, and there was never a war.
That was just always a land grab by Israel, and Israel is in six o'clock.
Amazing to me, the foolishness I hear on sometimes here.
No better example than the nitwit you just had on there.
I mean, just the fact that the diversity of opinions you guys have is a joke compared to his statements that, you know, you're some kind of left-leaning deal.
But any case, even beyond that, my point is that in our country, you know, people need to really do a little bit like I've heard some of the previous Carlos callers talking about, and that is to make sure that they do some of their own research.
You know, it's unfortunate in our country, there's almost like a triad.
There is, you know, the media, there's no doubt, is very left-leaning.
Okay, you'll have the Democrats.
The media is carrying the water for them.
And, you know, in our country, unfortunately, the higher institutions of learning have also become extremely, extremely left-leaning.
So people need to look and see.
I mean, look at the number of millions of people and family people and families that have been destroyed in this country by drugs.
Even the individual reporter you had on a minute ago is talking about, oh, well, we're not sure that the drugs are working their way into this country.
Are you kidding me?
Come on.
At the end of the day, when that large number of, I don't care if it's not fentanyl, that's the new talking point by the media.
It's not fentanyl.
Well, I guess heroin and other opioids, it's okay for that to come in here, but there's no proof there's fentanyl.
And we got this from Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
He posted on X a few minutes ago for years.
Nicholas Maduro, the cartel he leads and other cartels in Latin America, have trafficked drugs into the United States, which have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
President Trump's decisive action to disrupt the unacceptable status quo and apprehend Maduro, it continues, but we don't have it.
unidentified
And we will go back to Pat, who's calling from New York.
I'm listening to people calling and saying, happy New Year.
But the times that we're living in now is uncertainty.
Uncertainty causes fear.
And with the things that's going on, with the wars we're involved in and the wars that we seem to be creating, will this come back on us as retaliation?
The name-calling that goes on with the disagreements and agreements with the people, Republicans, Independents, and Democrats.
I think that's truly uncalled for.
That's what's going on now.
There's no more morals or scruples in the politics in today.
Will this cause off these wars that we continuously get involved in?
Will this create a bad place for America and cause us to go into World War III?
We're involved in so many things that we shouldn't be in.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that he was alarmed by the events in Venezuela on Saturday and warned that the U.S. military action there would have wider implications for the region.
Quote, independently of the situation in Venezuela, these developments constitute a dangerous precedent, he said, calling for international law to be respected.
That's at the New York Times.
John Akron, Ohio, Independent Line, you're on the air.
unidentified
Oh, yes, Mimi.
I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to your guest also.
It said, asked if he will support opposition leader Maria Carina Machado, who is currently in Norway, to take over Venezuela, Trump tells Fox News, quote, we're going to have to look at it right now.
Quote, they, Venezuela, have a vice president, as you know.
unidentified
I don't know what kind of an election that was, but you know, the election of the- Are you talking to me now?
So, one of the things that I love reading history and trying to understand our nation.
And something that people are missing is just that.
And if you go back to the Monroe Doctrine of 1820, and I, too, I'm sorry, I didn't get to talk to the guest about this because she mentioned something about how we have neglected the Western Hemisphere.
But we clearly had defined our role as a nation in the Western Hemisphere.
We did it in 1820 in the Monroe Doctrine.
But what was more important is we did it again in 1947 with the Truman Doctrine.
And if people were to read the Truman Doctrine, I think they would say, well, basically, what we are and what we're doing is carrying out what we have decided as a nation.
What does that mean the U.S. can do in the Western hemisphere?
unidentified
Well, it means that we have to be watchful and participate.
And just like what we did in Venezuela this weekend, it means that we have a stake in what goes on in the Western Hemisphere for the security and for the well-being of the Western Hemisphere.
And this is Chris in Washington, D.C., Independent.
Hi, Chris.
unidentified
Hey, good morning.
Thank you for taking the call.
I had a comment and a question for the professor, but I'll ask them both anyway.
So, one of the callers just mentioned Truman.
And in 1948, after World War II, Truman changed the presidential seal so that the eagle faces the olive branch instead of the arrows.
And he said, from this day forward, we're a nation of peace.
But Trump changed the Department of Defense back to the Department of War and said we're now a nation of war, I guess, and in a retrospect instead of peace.
But my question was for the professor: if it is being spun as a law enforcement action, why is the U.S. military involved?
We're not a law enforcer DOD.
That should have been the U.N.
I hope that's maybe asked at 11.
Why did we go at it alone?
Because when we do, it makes it look like an invasion or a regime change instead of a law enforcement action.
So, those are my comments, and thank you for taking my call.
I believe that President Trump has done exactly what he set out to do.
You know, we had a problem with immigrants, so he closes the border.
Then we have drugs coming into the United States.
He attacks the boats.
Then we're not getting any results to the satisfaction.
So, what he does is he goes in and he gets the guy who automatically needs to come back to the United States because they had warrants out for him.
So, I don't understand why everyone's so upset over the fact that all we did was hunt down a crook, bring him to trial, and now we're going to see what's happening.
So, I disagree and agree with a lot of folks that have said stuff here.
And I really appreciate you taking my call.
Been trying to get through on this line for three months.
And in case you're wondering why we're still here, past 10 o'clock, we are extending today's Washington Journal in light of last night's events in Venezuela to get your reaction.
There is a news conference that President Trump has called, and we will be covering that live, scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Eastern Time.
So, do stay with us for that, and you can continue to call in and let us know your thoughts on your reaction and your opinion on Venezuela.
unidentified
Kathy, Fort Edward, New York, Democrat, good morning.
Good morning.
I would just like to know how he feels he has the right to do what he did.
How would Trump feel if his family was taken?
Do you want families to be involved in this so-called war?
I'm sorry that this whole situation has occurred only from the standpoint of not trying to stop drugs, but I'm concerned more that the Chinese are going to take advantage of this in Taiwan now when they see how busy we are in Venezuela and South America.
I just don't want to see another war start that we have to stand behind on the west coast to try and protect Taiwan if China sees this as their opportunity to do what we're doing now in Venezuela.
And from our C-SPAN archives, here is President Trump during his address to Congress.
This was his 2020 State of the Union address, and he did talk about the Maduro regime, and he praised the opposition leader at the time, who was Juan Guado.
Supporting the hopes of Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to restore democracy, the United States is leading a 59-nation diplomatic coalition against the socialist dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, a tyrant who brutalizes his people, but Maduro's grip on tyranny will be smashed and broken.
Here this evening is a very brave man who carries with him the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of all Venezuelans.
Joining us in the gallery is the true and legitimate president of Venezuela, Juan Guaido.
Mr. President, please take this message back to your family.
And I'm kind of appalled at the people who, all the Americans are thinking this is so wrong just because it's Trump and they have TDS, as opposed to if you look at the Venezuelan people, if you look at off-mainstream media and just look at, they're cheering right now, all of them in Miami, Florida, cheering.
Chris, Huntsville, Alabama, Independent Line, you're on the air, Chris.
unidentified
Good morning, America.
This is a multi-level distraction.
It's an unbelievable distraction.
If you look at Ukraine, Trump is going to need an excuse not to send weapons to Ukraine.
This provides him a distraction not to send weapons to Ukraine.
He promised the oil guys for however much crypto money he got out of the oil people, he promised them he'd do whatever he'd do if they just contributed to his campaign.
Boom, they've got all the oil in Venezuela now.
Also, earlier in the day, you had somebody call in about the Vulcan Mineral Company.
There's about $17 billion with a B tons of high-grade gold ore in Venezuela.
That'll also become in play along with the oil.
And it's just, he's a supplicant to Putin, and this is a great excuse not to send Ukraine weapons.
So, Steve, are you expecting this to be the end of any military action on Venezuela?
Or do you expect it to continue to escalate?
What do you think?
unidentified
No, I believe this is the end because what he's doing behind backdoor channels now, he's talking to the vice president that is very disgusting, that woman, that Iranian regime.
So to what extent has the White House telegraphed what President Trump will be addressing this morning at 11 o'clock?
unidentified
Well, the White House proper is keeping its traps shut.
Now, we did hear from President Trump on Fox News Saturday morning.
He called in and did a lengthy half-hour long interview, but they're really leaving this one up to the president to lay out the details, the operational successes, and the near tragedies involving a number of U.S. military members.
Of course, the president did tell Fox News that multiple service members were hit and injured by gunfire during the raid on Maduro.
Thankfully, none of them were fatal, but it is something that President Trump is going to have to sell to his base because, of course, this is a move that many in the administration have been pressuring for.
First and foremost, Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
But we have to think about the President's campaign promise not to put any American boots on the ground overseas, and of course, his pledge to not only end the forever wars which have plagued the United States through the 21st century, but prevent future wars through his P-True Strength dogma.
So I think it might be a little bit of a difficult sell for some, but we're all anxious to hear what President Trump has to say at 11 a.m. this morning.
And any information, Christian, on the lieutenants of Maduro and what their fates could be?
unidentified
That certainly is up in the air.
President Trump addressed this on Fox News as well.
And he said, look, if they remain quote-unquote loyal to the regime, it's going to be very, very bad for them.
But he did signal a potential backing of the opposition leader.
Now, he didn't come out right and say, we are going to install a new government, but he had suggested that if there is a quote-unquote conversion of the government, then things can go along as normal in Venezuela and hopefully even better than normal for the Venezuelan people, who we do know have suffered greatly at the hands of the Maduro regime.
And President Trump also, to Fox, had said that Maduro and his wife were on their way to New York to stand trial.
Do you have any further information or details about that, where they could be held timeline for a trial?
unidentified
I don't have any information on where they will be held, but Attorney General Pam Bondi did confirm an indictment this morning in the Southern District of New York for conspiracy to traffic cocaine and other narcotics-related charges.
So we'd have to imagine they would be held somewhere in a safe location within New York City itself.
That being said, this isn't the first time the Trump administration has sought an indictment for Maduro.
They pursued one back in 2020 when the president was still in office during his first term.
Obviously, there was a huge four-year-long break during the Biden administration, but this is something that President Trump has sought for years.
I've been told that he wanted to tackle Nicolas Maduro, topple that government all the way back in 2017 of his first term in office.
That being said, folks at the time in the cabinet, ALA H.R. McMasters and Jim Mattis, basically walked the president off that position.
But in his four years down in Florida, again, when President Biden was in office, others in his camp, specifically Marco Rubio, they had really animated the president to reignite this campaign against Maduro, not only to stop the alleged flow of narcotics northward into U.S. streets, but also a potential boon for American energy companies with the takeover of the oil industry down there.
Now, President Trump did say American energy companies will be very heavily involved in managing those resources moving forward.
We'll have to see exactly what that looks like, but this is something he's been thinking about and moving towards for a number of years now.
And finally, Christian, any reaction from America's adversaries, namely China and Russia?
unidentified
Nothing from Russia yet so far, Mimi, but China has put out a statement condemning the raid.
Now, we do know that a number of Chinese diplomats were actually in Caracas when the raid took place.
This is certainly another fault line that the president needs to monitor closely because, again, there are many not only within his own caucus of support, but in the greater American electorate, who do not want to see not only a hot war with China, but really a prolonged engagement with any country across the global community.
This is a major success right now for President Trump.
The fact that this raid was carried off without any fatalities at all.
That being said, we do know this is not a done deal yet, no matter what the White House is saying.
And I would point you to none other than U.S. engagements in Latin America, like the invasion of Panama in 1989, the U.S. intervention in the Dominican Civil War back in the 1960s, and of course, those forever wars that the U.S. was entrenched in throughout the entirety of the 21st century following the September 11th terror attack.
So a lot to keep our eyes on here, but luckily, President Trump is going to be speaking to us from Florida in just a few more minutes.
We will stay with you and get your reaction and opinions and thoughts about the strike against Venezuela and the capturing of Venezuela's leader, Maduro, and his wife.
So, Donald, getting us back to Venezuela, your reaction.
unidentified
He acted without Congress.
We have a Republican Congress, House members that don't show up to work, take vacations, while this idiot Trump destroys this country and this Constitution.
These Republicans need to get their heads out their ass idiots.
Jake in Franklin Square, New York, Republican, you're on the air.
unidentified
Hi there.
You know, I really can't believe how democracy is dying.
What's going to happen, just like that correspondent said, the oil companies are going to exploit Venezuela.
They're not going to pay them right.
They're not going to invest in them.
They're just going to exploit them if there are rare earths.
They're going to exploit the rare earths.
You know, first the Trump administration, they tried to get mercenaries to kill Maduro.
They didn't catch him.
Trump said funnily on a video, said, hey, I don't know anything about that.
No, they knew something about that.
It's always going to be about the oil, about getting rid of China and Russia's influence there.
Democracy is dead.
There will never be a true democracy in Venezuela if they oppose Trump, if they oppose those oil companies coming in and exploiting them.
Democracy, nobody likes democracy.
And whoever's going to be in charge of Venezuela is going to be a sycophant, someone who fawns over or subservient to the United States.
And people, I can't believe that people do not fight for democracy.
Yeah, Maduro was bad and he was horrible.
He had to go.
But what's going to happen is it's going to be replaced by this oligarchical, these oligarchs, these fascists that are going to exploit that oil.
They're going to exploit rare earths if there are any.
And again, it's going to be whoever is subservient to Trump in the United States, whoever fawns over the United States, whoever names their children these white names, Walter or whatever they name.
It's this imperialism of culture, imperialism of resources.
Instead of saying, hey, it's your country, you decide.
No, America is going to come in there and tell them what to do.
And the fact that people don't aren't disgusted by that is amazing.
I'm just curious, doesn't anybody kind of see this as being a little bit hypocritical?
I mean, Jack Smith's report just came out on New Year's Eve, and I did listen to it excitedly, only because and he said that Trump was he feels Trump was 100% responsible for trying to take over, trying to overthrow the election.
Isn't it kind of hypocritical that he thinks he needs to get rid of someone else in another country for doing the same thing that he tried to do?
Maybe he's upset he couldn't get away with it?
I don't understand that.
And then he says he's worried about drugs.
If he's worried about drugs, do something about the demand.
What about the people in this country that are selling them?
I just want to say you look like a beautiful Finn Patel this morning to address appropriately for this day.
Let me get a few points, if you don't mind.
The first point is that if you can, so a lot of these were Republican, mostly Republican, not independent, callers, when they I'd like you to kind of question them when they say that, you know, people died from drugs and this and that, and it's a great day.
But ask them, what do they think about Trump pardoning a guy that brought 400 tons?
How many people died from that?
And it wasn't he wasn't treated unfairly.
He was prosecuted by a U.S. court.
It wasn't like a out-of-country court or something like that.
And secondly, if Trump cared about the, you know, more people die from alcoholism.
More people die from prescription drug overdoses than they do from illegal overdoses.
So, why aren't they raiding the executives' homes, the sacklers, alcohol executives, other people?
Why aren't they shutting all that stuff down?
People die every day.
Families are ruined by alcohol, probably more than any other drug in the world.
And lastly, I just want to say that this is a great distraction.
These people, I'll tell you, this Trump organization has done a great distraction because everything, the Epsom's now gone, the Jack Smith thing that just came out, that's buried under this thing.
And he promised, how is this putting America first?
Everything's supposed to be going great.
Everything's not going great.
The economy is in turmoil here.
So you have to create a distraction to get people off what the promises that were broke.
America First promises.
He promised to the billionaires that if you cut their taxes, that they're going to take care of everybody.
They're going to create jobs.
People are getting laid off in masses.
They're speeding up AI to kill people's jobs off permanently.
So all these things, it's just a distraction.
And I hope everybody realizes it, which side you're on, it's hurting everybody here.
And we've got a posting on X by Speaker Mike Johnson.
So I'll read that to you.
I have spoken in the last several hours with Secretary Rubio and Secretary Hegseth, and the nation will hear from POTUS and his address at 11 a.m.
Today's military action in Venezuela was a decisive and justified operation that will protect American lives.
Nicholas Maduro is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans after years of trafficking, illegal drugs, and violent cartel members into our country, crimes for which he's been properly indicted in U.S. courts and an arrest warrant duly issued.
And today, he learned what accountability looks like.
President Trump is putting American lives first, succeeding where others have failed.
And under his leadership, the United States will no longer allow criminal regimes to profit from wreaking havoc and destruction on our country.
The Trump administration is working to schedule briefings for members of Congress, for members as Congress returns to Washington next week.
Our brave military personnel who executed a precise, successful operation deserve our gratitude and congratulations.
That's Speaker Mike Johnson.
Of course, any of those briefings from members of Congress this week, if they are open and public, we will show that to you here on C-SPAN.
And the news conference set to start at 11 a.m. Eastern will also be live here on C-SPAN.
unidentified
Until then, we'll hear from Ricardo, Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Look, I was born in Colombia, and I really understand the context about what is happening.
And like millions of Latin Americans, I carry our preview with pain and hope in my heart.
What happened today, go just beyond politics.
This represents the end of a chapter driving with fear, with silence, with suffering, because this is a dictatorship that forced millions, millions of families to leave their homes, broke apart communities, and violate the most basic human rights.
You know, you can even understand how is Miami right now?
How is Madrid?
How is Chile?
How is Argentina?
And is Latin America celebrating freedom?
And this is not just for the people of Venezuela.
It's a hope for the future where no nation in Latin America has to live under oppression again.
Okay, Ricardo, here's Monty and Democrat in Providence, Kentucky.
You're on the air.
unidentified
Yes, thank you for taking my call.
I think this is terrible that our military is being used to go in and push somebody out.
Government Officials Watch Us Fail00:02:57
unidentified
These people that's calling in is very, very intelligent.
Some of them is very, very dumb.
But we've got some people that's very, very intelligent that's calling in and putting it just the way it is.
Now, Putin and Kim Jonging and Kim, whatever he is in Korea, hey, they're sitting back watching us and they're sitting watching how dumb we are by doing this kind of thing.
And so, okay, when we all come over here and drop bombs on the United States, we all gonna be looking stupid, all of us, because we all gonna be dead.
So y'all just keep on thinking that what we're doing is all right to go in in these other countries and do something to smaller countries.
But no, can we go in there and do something to China?
No, China sits back waiting.
North Korea and Putin sitting by waiting for all this to fall down.
And we have a text, sorry, a posting on X from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, representative of New York Democrat, who says, it's not about drugs.
If it was, Trump wouldn't have pardoned one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world last month.
It's about oil and regime change, and they need a trial now to pretend that it isn't, especially to distract from Epstein and skyrocketing healthcare costs.
unidentified
Let's talk to Roberto, Independent in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
And I'll just follow up on a little bit of what this guy from Venezuela said, and that is that, yes, nice, you know, to have a new change in the government.
Yes, but I was also born in Peru, and I came out here when I was a kid.
So going back and forth in Peru, you know, it's been nothing but not fun because a lot of Venezuelans have migrated there for the last seven years.
And I've seen it work in there.
I've seen some crime.
I even tried to catch this guy in a motorcycle from a government official.
You know, and that's not fun to see the newspapers and just rubbish the country.
People kill left and right.
There is a cellular.
They intimidate.
They have, they call them sicarios, people that, you know, they like the mafia.
They got a lot of mafia in there.
It turns out I was there still.
And now after what happened today or yesterday, there's going to be more aftermath.
Lori's Concerns About Trump00:15:37
unidentified
Where do they go?
A lot of people still don't know.
And I feel that they're going right back to Colombia and they'll filter through Peru.
And the people in Peru ended, they're really tightened up.
So, Laura, many of them would stop at another Caribbean country along the way.
unidentified
Oh, and gas stop.
Okay.
But the oil is the main reason that I believe that we're going after that country.
Because I pray for this country every day because it's getting to be all about money, all about greed, greed, and how much power, how much power you can have.
Like our White House is torn to shreds for a golden ballroom.
Come on, we don't need this.
We don't.
Come on, people.
We need to get together and just love our country.
And Venezuela, you know, what if they want to come here, right?
Let's talk to Beth next in Wisconsin, Line for Independence.
Go ahead, Beth.
unidentified
Good morning.
I believe this whole Venezuela raid is a charade.
That Trump is showing Putin, who has him in his pocket for whatever reason, blackbail or money, that he's not going to do anything to help the Ukraine.
And I think it's his way of telling the Ukraine, you might as well just give up because the U.S. is under my thumb and I'm not going to let it help you.
In the weeks ahead, when bombs start falling on the United States, who is going to be our ally?
And this is David in Fort Lee, New Jersey, Republican line.
Good morning, David.
unidentified
Good morning.
Thanks for taking my call and happy new year.
I wanted to thank you for several of your commentators who helped elucidate what is actually going on in Venezuela.
My comment is more about the appearance of impropriety and the unfortunate inability of either Republicans or Democrats to get past the constant barrage of negativity brought upon itself by the Trump administration,
be it the Epstein files or the pardoning of Hernandez in Honduras or any number of other events that don't allow us to come together and discuss whether or not there ought to have been a removal of Maduro.
And it's hard to talk about Maduro as a drug kingpin when you're pardoning the drunk kingpin next door.
So again, it's whether or not good or bad is coming out of the actions taken by this administration, it's hard to get past the appearance of impropriety.
I just want to thank a lot of the callers that are not in comatose who see everything that's happening in Venezuela for what it's worth.
It's strictly for the resources because China and Russia also has a bid into the oil and resources in China, and I'm sorry, in Venezuela.
And also, different callers said this is a great day in America.
It is just totally the opposite because 20 over 20 million people have lost health care, premiums, and child care, daycare, and other accommodies for the welfare of the working people.
This is ridiculous.
And we do need a different administration.
The spineless and stepperwise administration we have is just unbelievable.
We need to have a term limit also, especially when you get over a certain age.
It should be a term limit for the Supreme Court and Congress and all of the other so-called administrations that are not for the American people.
I'm confused because if ICE is going after so many Latin Americans and sending them back to their country, and a lot of Venezuelans came here, and now he's bombing that country, where are those people to go?
Where are those people to go?
Some have eluded that country to come to America.
And when they come here, what does he do?
He apprehends them.
So if that isn't a conflict of interest, I don't know what is.
You've got Latin Americans right now celebrating in South Florida.
And I mean, it was always illegal.
Whereas I said now.
So this man is just, he's like a dog chasing his tail.
He does one thing and then he conflicted with another.
And, you know, we're the end of this.
So to me, it's all about trying to master the two issues, you know, which are the Epstein files.
I was aghast when I heard the news this morning of the attack in Venezuela.
There's been so many missteps by this administration run by a convicted criminal, 34 counts.
I don't know what we can expect would happen with having him as our president.
But everything is not what it seems.
We didn't strike in Venezuela and remove their leader for drugs.
It's pretty obvious if drugs was the reason he would not have pardoned a convicted criminal who brought in 400 tons of cocaine into this country directly.
There's so many conflicts of interest that you can't even count them.
It's a grift.
People don't want to see that, but the facts prove it.
All right, and we are standing by for President Trump's news conference that is scheduled to start right now.
So we are going to just continue to take your calls until the president approaches the podium and starts speaking.
So we'll talk now to Effie Independent in Newport Ritchie, Florida.
unidentified
Hi, yes.
Thank you for taking my call.
For me, this is yet another terrible day for the United States.
Some of the callers seem to think that invading another country is okay because they've embraced the propaganda that's being provided to them by a very corrupt administration.
And depending on what news station they're watching, they have agendas.
And so they are basically embracing these agendas.
I want to ask, did they learn anything from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, et cetera, et cetera?
You know, we're not the good guys.
We're going into a sovereign country, and we're not going after the drugs.
We're going after the oil.
And do we honestly think that the Venezuelan people are going to go along with this?
And if the past serves as a blueprint, we usually stick crony dictators in, and we do it to get control, and we all know how that turns out.
I'd like to know where our checks and balances have gone in this country.
And I'm really embarrassed by the callers who think this is a good idea.
I feel that they did not pay attention in history class.
In Gaza, he's basically turned a humanitarian crisis into something that seems to be okay as long as we can, you know, fund it with our tax dollars and create a Riviera.
Martha, we're standing by to take you to Mar-a-Lago for President Trump's news conference.
In the meantime, Kevin is in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
Democrat, go ahead, Kevin.
unidentified
Yes, we ask ourselves what's driving this con man's presidency.
Why does this grifter continue to draw so much attention every day on our major networks and on the front pages of our nation's newspapers?
Many of us have concluded that he is the commodity, the product that helps them all attract readers and, more importantly, sell advertising.
They all make money off the orange man and they love it.
Many Americans, however, do remember the chaos in the White House during his first term.
The Secretary of State calling him a moron and then leaving his cabinet, the number of temporary appointments in his administration because he would not keep anyone that did not walk lockstep with him like the Nazi troops did for Hitler.
We remember the fallout with our European allies, his love for Putin.
We'll talk to Ed now in Indiana, Independent Lion.
Go ahead, Ed.
unidentified
I'm really disturbed because a lot of people do not actually understand it's not also just about the drugs.
Everybody's hit on it, and I do support this action.
We cannot have Iraq, North Korea, China, Russia on our doorstep down here on the south end of the Gulf because it would be a very, very dangerous thing to have them there because it is a back door into Mexico, and then they can flood their people in.
The other side of this is he is not the first president to drop bombs on a country.
Obama dropped something like 28,000 bombs without permission from Congress.
He's done the same thing.
This is an ongoing thing, and it's a Monroe doctrine thing.
We're trying to keep our side of the globe clean of, I guess, incursions.
My son served in the military for 10 years over in the Middle East, and it was no different there than it is here.
I don't want to see a long war, but if you have to get rid of someone who's paid by narco-traffickers, who's paid by Iraq, who's paid by China to turn his face and do whatever, then so be it.
It's no different than anywhere else in the world.
Let's talk to Tim, Republican, Graham, North Carolina.
We're not talking about that right now, but here's Danya in Homestead, Florida.
Democrat, go ahead, Danya.
unidentified
Yes, hi.
Good morning.
You know, I don't know why, and I think people need to wake up a little bit to see really what's going on in this country.
The president had a meeting with Putin not too long ago before all this has happened.
And he even spoke about it himself, how he would have done it earlier in his first term.
But of course, the type of influence that he has gained now in this administration in this year and throughout the years, even during Biden, to gain this uproar of this cult of what MAGA is, has allowed him to do whatever he wants.
Now, the only good thing that the president did was really help out the Venezuelan people.
And now we really have to ask ourselves, what is exactly that happened in that meeting with President Trump and Putin?
What I think he said to Putin was, I'll take Venezuela and I'll let you have Ukraine.
This is exactly what it was planned and agreed on.
Now, what's going to happen after this, I don't know.
But I mean, it's really no one knows.
This is something, you know, that this administration has created chaos, but there's nothing coming out of this that's good.
President Trump sold our country to foreigners.
He is selling out our country little by little.
And everyone needs to wake up.
It's not about Democrat.
It's not about Republicans.
We need to stand together and come in unison in an agreement that what this country is going to what's going to happen to this country in the foreseeable years is not going to be something good.
Oh, I'm listening to all these folks, and I'm like, where do they get all these information from?
All I had to say is this guy was a knockoff terrorist guy who was killing American people, and they are complaining about this was a police action.
We're not, this was a police action.
I can see why Democrats don't really like him because I guess they agree with the president of Venezuela because he's a Democrat, he's a socialist, and I guess they like this kind of guy.
So all I got to say is he did a good job.
All these people are making all these conspiracies need to cut it out.
And on your screen, you see the reporters are there gathered in anticipation, as we are, of President Trump speaking about the actions taken overnight in Venezuela and the capturing of Maduro and his wife.
And we will bring that to you just as soon as he approaches the podium.
Here is John, Pompano Beach, Florida, Independent Line.
Go ahead, John.
unidentified
Yes.
Happy New Year.
Not a great way to start the new year, but where are we going from here?
Nobody hasn't answered that question.
Where are we going from here?
Because the thing is, now, what if China takes over Taiwan?
Or what if, like the young lady was talking about, what about if it was a negotiation with Putin?
Okay, you could take Venezuela and I'll just keep on going with Ukraine.
And I think that's where we're headed, but nobody understands what mess this president, if you want to call him president, what he's getting the United States into.
Poor service people that have to go and clean up after his mess.
I just wanted to point out the similarity about Ukraine.
That country was actually trying to be taken over by Russia.
And what you look and see is that Venezuela is very similar because Venezuela was taken over by corrupt elections, even with the previous elections of Hugo Chavez.
The people that were from Venezuela were discussing the fact that those elections weren't fair and upright.
I had a co-worker that I worked with that I met that was from Venezuela.
And he was an engineer.
He was a very educated, upstanding person.
And I've respected him.
And I asked him about why he had left his country and come to our country.
We had been employed at our company for about a year.
He told me that Venezuela had been corrupted in so many ways that there were millions of people who left their country because of the socialism policies that had taken over.
Drugs, Dictators, and Destabilization00:15:34
unidentified
And basically, the government of Maduro was basically just a cartel that was run by just armed guerrillas.
They took away all the weapons in the country so that the people couldn't defend themselves.
Anybody that protested, they murdered them.
And a lot of people left the country and went everywhere.
So our country has probably acted in the interest of the condition of our hemisphere and the fact that the destabilization of Brazil is starting to occur.
And all the drugs and stuff that were probably coming fentanyl is probably coming on those oil tankers.
I mean, I can't say that for sure.
Who knows?
But the nations that have their gross national product basically as drugs and everything is probably coming to an end.
All the drug dealers are probably getting notice that, you know, our work this morning needs to find something else to do.
I feel like the same way I felt on January the 6th when I woke up and the president, the current resident in the White House, was sending his minions to overthrow our country.
Christian nationalism is a perversion of Christianity, and they're using Christian nationalism to overthrow our government.
And I'm just totally appalled.
And I am encouraged by the number of Republicans that are calling in that are against the overthrow of our country and the total chaos, I believe, is what our current resident in the White House had planned, I mean, from the start.
But Barbara, how do you see Christian nationalism playing into what happened in Venezuela overnight?
unidentified
I'm seeing that these preachers are going in their churches and telling the people who occupy those buildings, which, you know, Christ is the church, they're occupying those buildings, are saying that whatever Trump does is okay because he's working for God.
And just when I see that Trump signs Bibles and auctions off a picture of a white, blue-eyed Jesus, you can see this propaganda being gobbled up by these people that are in these buildings with heads of those buildings telling them that that's Christianity.
I was very much in favor of the president going to Venezuela.
How many times do you have to warn this individual on what was coming into this country as far as fentanyl and what it was doing to the American people?
How many people were dying from it?
This strike.
I mean, the guy had been warned for over a month and a half or better and what was going on and didn't want to cooperate.
Didn't want to stop the flow of drugs.
So I think what President Trump did, I'll stand behind him 110%.
And those that don't stand behind him on this because of the fentanyl, I think are Americans.
He Trump invaded striking Venezuela and capturing the president and his wife because of breaking the law and doing things that are very bad.
But yet, Trump is a convicted son, and he's running the country.
What?
How is that possible?
A convicted son goes to another country to stop crime when he did so much crime and was convicted of it by his peers, and every single day he's doing crazy shit.
He's a lie, excuse me, he's a live wire.
He should never have been in the first place.
He wouldn't even be able to get a job, you know, kick out the trash.
I'm sorry, but this guy is evil, and there's no better word for it.
It says Trump told Fox News he spoke to Maduro several times, including most recently a week ago.
It says Maduro denied that in an interview on New Year's Eve, saying he had only spoken to Trump in November.
And we are standing by to hear from President Trump in Mar-a-Lago.
That's the podium there with reporters assembled.
And we will take your calls until he gets to the podium.
Chris, Antioch, Tennessee, Democrat, go ahead.
unidentified
Yes.
Hi.
I'm a Democrat.
I'm married to a Venezuelan, and I have a number of Venezuelans and Colombians as in-laws.
And I think this could be a good thing for Venezuela, although I disagree with a lot of the stuff that Donald Trump has done.
If you look at what Venezuela has been through for the last 26 years with Chavez and Maduro, it's been horrible for Venezuela.
And this could be a very good thing for Venezuelans and for the United States.
And I'm just kind of surprised also by the misinformation on both sides of the aisle, the calls coming in and people comparing this to Gaza or Afghanistan.
And this looks to me like it's a police action.
And if there's a peaceful transition to democracy, I think this will be a very good thing.
Doug is next in Falls Church, Virginia, Republican.
unidentified
Go ahead.
Hey, good morning.
Thank you all so much for taking my call.
I haven't listened to you all for the most of the morning, and I feel like so many callers are getting this wrong on many levels, right?
Venezuela has, I believe, the largest oil reserve in the world.
Everyone's talking about that this is mainly about oil.
Yes and no.
I think the implication that people are saying is that we're going to go down there and take this oil.
That's not what's happening, right?
The intent of this is to really about regime change.
I think it has nothing to do with really drugs.
I think that's like maybe tertiary or the fourth reason to do this.
It's mainly because we sanctioned them so much that now they're selling oil at a severe Discount to China and giving it or giving it or selling to the Cubans at a very, very reduced rate, which is very much propping up both those countries and regimes, which is obviously not in our interest.
At the same time, because of how Maduro is treating his people, right, that so many of them are leaving their country and going everywhere.
If you look at the Biden administration, millions of Venezuelans have come into our country because they've been trying to escape their own, as well as gone all throughout that region and potentially are destabilizing all those countries around it, whether it's Chile or Colombia or Venezuela, so many of those different countries, even Argentina, they've had such a massive shift to the right as a direct response to all the immigration and migration that is exiting Maduro's Venezuela.
At the same time, there's all this gang activity from Trende Agua that is now going to all this other region.
If people were to look at the regional response to this activity, you have people cheering in the streets, like the capital of Chile, applauding this action because Maduro is so severely disliked.
And if you look back at the Biden administration, part of what they were trying to do was, hey, push Maduro to have these free and fair elections and trying to have a sanction relief being like a trade-off.
And they conducted those elections, and Maduro lost resoundly.
I think he got a third of the vote, and the opponent, I think, was that Lopez got two-thirds of the vote.
So people are calling this regime change.
It's not.
Maduro lost an election, refused to leave, and now this is undoing the coup basically that Maduro did by staying in office.
So I'd be, you know, 20, 30 years ago, I'd probably decide Democrat.
But no, I just common sense approach.
This is Monroe Doctrine 101.
You can't be a communist dictator in our hemisphere.
It just is what it is.
We have the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963.
It's the same premise.
It's the drugs, the Trende Aragua.
And, you know, you can't flood a country with millions of people.
I think Mexico is watching out, is looking over their shoulder now.
This is an example of how military can be used as a scalpel rather than just a club.
And where I support this, I would really like to see him bring peace between Russia and Ukraine because there's no, there's the outcome of that is going to be the same regardless.
Russia's going to keep what they have.
All we're doing is sending people into a meat grinder.
I like what he did here, and I would like him to bring peace to the rest of the world.
If it's done the way that this operation was done, quick action, people in and out.
You know, I don't want to see basically where it's anarchy and chaos in the street, but it seems that they're, I mean, their leaders pretty much look at us as a joke.
They, you know, they flood us with millions of people.
They just let it happen.
And I understand that they were pretty much given a green light by the last administration.
But if it's done like this and there's an actual plan for succession where you see Venezuela, Maduro clearly did lose an election.
If it was something where the people are actually supporting it, which you've been seeing the last three or four weeks in Mexico, people are fed up over there.
Mexico is artificially suppressed in the same way that Venezuela was.
It's just they've never had freedom in that part of the country, so they don't know really what to subscribe to.
If we gave them a plan of, hey, this is what your country could be, I would definitely support it.
Not if it's just going to be like, we're going to remove a dictator and then whatever fills a vacuum.
I just want to say, first of all, I live in the greatest country in the world.
Okay.
And I sat here and for the last half hour and I've listened to so many people tear down our president and what he's doing.
You know, Abraham Lincoln once said, a country divided cannot stand.
And I look at this country and it saddens me that we live in the greatest country in the world, but the people are divided.
It's time Democrats, Republicans come together.
Okay.
We live in the greatest country in the world and we put down our president.
I'm proud of our president.
Yeah, he's brash at times.
Yeah, he's mouthy at times, but I trust him and I believe that he's doing what's best for my freedom.
Okay.
If anybody does not appreciate their freedoms, then you shouldn't live in the United States.
If you want to live in a socialistic country where you're controlled, where your guns are taken away, if you want to live in a place like Venezuela, please be my guest and leave.
Because you know what?
If you don't appreciate your country, you cannot be a true American.
Several callers have brought up the pardoning of the ex-Honduran president.
It says that Trump's dramatic action against Maduro is the polar opposite of the clemency he granted to former Honduran President Hernandez.
Trump in December pardoned Hernandez, though he was sentenced to 45 years in prison for helping drug traffickers to safely move hundreds of tons of cocaine north through his country to the U.S. Hernandez, who enjoyed support from officials in the first Trump administration, was convicted by a U.S. jury in New York, which Maduro is now set to face.
When asked in an interview with Politico about the pardon, Trump said, quote, I don't know him, and I know very little about him, but added that he was told that Hernandez, quote, was set up.
The country deals in drugs, like probably you could say that about every country.
And because he was the president, they gave him like 45 years in prison.
That's a quote from President Trump.
Patrick is calling us from Columbus, Ohio, Independent Line.
Go ahead.
unidentified
Hi, thanks for taking my call.
I just want to bring up a point Nelly's really talked about.
Venezuela has one of the world's largest gold deposits.
There was a Canadian company called Crystal X International Corporation.
There's been multiple legal fights over this reserve going back and forth.
But I just want to bring up that point that there's a lot of resources there.
I hope the best for Venezuela and the United States of America.
And here's Michael in Samarina, Georgia, Republican.
Go ahead, Michael.
unidentified
Well, I think it's a great day for the U.S. and a great day for the world.
We've got a dictator who basically ran the country into the ground.
Venezuelans have been trying to leave into the U.S. and other countries for years under the Chavez regime as well as the Maduro regime.
And so I think that the world should take notice that President Trump is doing exactly what he was supposed to do, and that is restore peace to the world.
I don't understand some of these other callers have been calling and trying to slam Trump for not doing his job.
I don't see how you have sympathizers with a dictator who has basically starved his people and ran drugs across into the U.S. and other countries and think, well, that's a bad thing that Trump did.
We should be basically rejoicing in what happened today.
And I'm excited to hear what Trump has to say about it.
But I think the rest of the world, and the caller you just mentioned, talked about Mexico.
I think Mexico should really be watching as well because they should be helping us.