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Feb. 26, 2025 - Triggered - Donald Trump Jr
01:10:12
BREAKING NEWS: My Father Revokes Biden-Maduro Oil License, LIVE with Maria Corina Machado | Triggered Ep.220
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Thank you.
It's a little bit different.
We're going on a Wednesday because there's so much happening.
And we're here to make sure that you get a front row seat to all of the top stories.
And tonight is going to be an especially powerful episode.
Perhaps the most impactful we've done on this show.
We'll be joined by the leader.
of the opposition party in Venezuela, Maria Corina Machada.
And it's an incredible story.
She'll literally be doing this interview from hiding as the regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela is trying to throw her in jail or even take her life because she is their top political opponent.
And she won bigly, to use the proper vernacular, bigly in the last election.
So we're going to change things up a little bit for this show.
We're going to give you some background on what's happening here.
Then we interview Maria.
And then after that, I'll get into all of the other top headlines of what's going on in the world right now.
So remember to keep liking, sharing, subscribing so that we can get this message out.
If you miss the show here on Rumble, you can go to Apple, you can go to Spotify.
And for all of the top headlines that we'll cover here on the show, Check out my other news app, MXM News, where you can get the mainstream news without the mainstream bias.
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So guys, to give you a little background, last year on July 28th, 2024, Maria's campaign crushed socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro by 40 points.
Okay, that's not a tight one.
That's a drubbing.
Okay, 40 points.
But he's refused to give up power.
She did something very unique.
She played by the rules of an unfair system.
Sound familiar?
Yes, it does.
And her political party defeated the Maduro regime in a landslide.
The regime has seized and destroyed her family's businesses through lawfare.
They've banned her image and likeness from even appearing anywhere in Venezuela.
She's been censored.
She was barely allowed to campaign in public.
They actually kicked her off the ballot.
Again, sounds sort of familiar, perhaps a more extreme version of what we've experienced here in the United States, but that's how close all of these things are.
That's how close Western civilization is to falling to these dictatorial regimes.
Pay attention.
They put her on a no-fly list, and she had to do the entire presidential campaign by car, boat, and even bicycle.
Okay?
When she traveled by car, if her campaign motorcade stopped at a gas station, Maduro's government would then punish the gas station.
If she stayed at a hotel, they would shut down the hotel.
It was ruthless and it was merciless.
And yet, she still won, despite all of that.
The people saw through it all.
Lawfare, censorship, punishing supporters.
Again, guys, does all of that sound Familiar?
Sound vaguely familiar?
Sort of feels like maybe what we've been going through for the last nine years?
She overwhelmingly won the 2023 primaries.
It was an open primary in Venezuela, and she got 92% of the vote.
92%, okay?
We're used to winning by basis points.
Like, 50.01 is the difference.
She won by 92%.
Then Maduro banned her from running in 2024, so she picked a replacement.
And then Maduro banned her replacement.
So she picked another replacement.
A retired ambassador.
Eventually Maduro stopped banning replacements because they were running out of people in the country.
And then the election happened.
They won big.
And she got the vote tallies to prove it.
Thanks to an army of volunteers and people who were willing to risk it to make sure that the truth was heard.
She got 160 Starlink antennas from Elon Musk's company.
To outsmart Maduro's internet blackouts, which were conveniently used to prevent people from voting.
Blackouts that would have definitely created fraud.
And the fraud would begin there and continue on in perpetuity.
Fueled by the support of the Venezuelan people, along with leaders like Javier Millie in Argentina, Bukele in El Salvador, Bologna in Italy, and by my own father, who we all know loves a fighter, Remember,
Biden was killing pipeline projects here in America while he was taking oil from Maduro in Venezuela, a regime the U.S. had not even previously recognized.
My father is ending that nonsense once and for all.
And today we'll learn new details on how Maduro literally emptied his prisons to send the evil Trendelaragua Gang members to America, who took the lives of incredible Americans like Lake and Riley and so many others.
Biden welcomed these illegal alien criminals, and now my father is deporting them back.
Remember how the media told us it was all fake news?
How Trendelaragua wasn't actually here?
Not in Colorado, not in Georgia, not in New York.
You know, they only took over a couple buildings, J.D. Vance, remember that one?
It's only a couple of buildings that they took over, threw people out of their homes.
I mean, it's only a couple of buildings, guys.
Well, my father was right, as always.
And Maria will tell us how he was even more right than we all realized.
And just over a month ago, my father posted on Truth Social in her support after she was detained by Maduro's henchmen.
My father wrote, and I quote, Shortly after that tweet, she was released because they know that my father means business.
And even more interesting is that Maria has emerged as one of the biggest advocates for cryptocurrencies.
And we'll explain how decentralized finance can free oppressed people, combat corrupt institutions, and why she wants a Bitcoin reserve for Venezuela.
And the Trump White House made it clear this week that America stands in opposition to this brutal regime.
Check this out.
Thanks, Caroline.
I've got two for you.
One on foreign policy.
Over the weekend, the president's special missions envoy, Rick Grinnell, was talking about Venezuela, and he said that the president isn't someone who wants regime change.
Other administration officials have made clear that they don't see Maduro as the rightful leader.
What is this administration's So we're gonna cover a lot, you're going to learn a lot, and it's going to be pretty powerful.
So with that, guys, the undisputed leader of the Venezuelan opposition, she is literally doing this interview in hiding because the Maduro regime...
Is trying to put her in prison or even worse?
Maria Corina Machado, thank you so much for joining us.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
It's a pleasure.
So, I mean, this is pretty historic.
This is certainly the first time I've interviewed someone actually in hiding because the Maduro regime wants you in prison because your party beat him in the polls.
Frankly, so badly, I've never seen it, right?
I'm used to seeing elections that are won, you know, half a point here, half a point there.
I mean, an absolute drubbing.
They did everything they could to stop you.
You still won.
Strangely enough, almost no one reports about that in the United States, I imagine, because they're on the same side of the dictatorial regimes.
But what is happening in Venezuela right now?
Well, what's happening in Venezuela is that we are living under a terrorist tyranny.
Venezuela has been hijacked by a gang that is connected to drug cartels and to the enemies of the United States, such as Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, China, and so on.
Maduro has taken over.
By force, even though, as you said, it was a landslide victory.
We humiliated the regime under their own extreme unfair conditions.
And he took out all the facades.
So the reality is we are facing a criminal system.
This is not a political crisis.
This has to be addressed as a law enforcement dynamic.
But we have a huge opportunity to transform Venezuela in front of us because the regime is weaker than ever done.
Yeah, it seems like it.
You know, I always say for us here in America, obviously what you're going through is an even more extreme version.
But, you know, you were on a no-fly list.
They did that to Tulsi Gabbard, who's now in the cabinet.
Obviously, the lawfare, they've done that to myself, my father, my family, and so many Americans for so long.
It got so ridiculous that it seems...
Finally, the American people understood what was happening.
They were able to see through the propaganda that I'm sure was done through regime media, which I think is frankly quite similar here in America.
And eventually, the people were able to take over.
What do you think can happen in Venezuela?
Is that control slipping?
The people are obviously understanding it based on the vote tallies.
But when they don't get what they clearly voted for, how long can the regime hang on for?
Well, the only thing the regime has left is arms and repression and lies, and certainly money that flows from criminal activities such as drug trafficking, gold smuggling, laundering.
Millions and millions of dollars and some resources that come from very obscure oil licenses.
And this is resources that are not used for schools or hospitals.
This is used for repression and for a huge propaganda campaign and structure such as the one we mentioned.
But Maduro has lost total support.
I mean, if the elections had been, you know...
Simply slightest competitive, it would have ended in 2010, not 2030. But the regime has also lost the support of the military.
And this is very important.
They lost in every single polling station where the military voted.
And we were able to get and collect the tally sheets and prove our victory.
Because we have the support of the military.
Also, Maduro is totally internationally isolated.
So the only thing he's got left is repression and the resources that are coming from abroad.
Yeah, I mean, Maduro's regime has clearly turned Venezuela into a cesspool of socialism, communism, a dictatorship.
Venezuela has been, you know, wrecked by oppression and dictatorship.
What is it like living in a country like that?
And given what you've seen happen to this once great nation of Venezuela, the people who I know who escaped before the insanity, speak so highly of the beauty of the country, the resources, everything.
Why should Americans care right now?
Well, first of all, Venezuela should be one of the richest.
Wealthiest countries in the world because of everything we have, not only oil and gas and natural resources and great lands and great talented people, but we got socialism, corrupt Chavista socialism, and it destroyed everything, and it turned Venezuela into the criminal hub of the Americas, a safe heaven for all the enemies of Western democracies and the United States.
And from here, Venezuela represents a true threat for safety and prosperity of the United States.
So that's why I think it is very important for American people to understand what's at stake here, not only for Venezuelans, certainly, but for all of you.
And I will mention only three main reasons why.
One is the relationship between Maduro and the Iranian regime.
I mean, this has been...
For decades now, Chavez and Maduro opened the doors of Venezuela to Latin America.
They had given the Iranians and Syrians agents over 10,000 Venezuelan passports.
Many of them have gone into Islamic terrorists.
Secondly, they have turned Venezuela into the main channels of drugs in the region now.
People estimate, experts estimate, that there could be even 300 tons of drugs a year.
Imagine what that means.
And Venezuela has turned into a traffic zone, now into a producer.
And the fact is that the cartels, they're not fighting, you know, the government as in Mexico.
The cartels are in power.
And top officials are involved and are the chiefs of El Cartel de los Soles.
And as you know very well, El Cartel de los Soles is linked as well with the Tren de Aragua, the very sadly known gang that has expanded throughout the region and is currently killing and committing crimes in the United States.
But we all know that the head of the Tren de Aragua is Maduro.
The regime created, promoted, and found the Tren de Aragua.
And finally, I have to say migration.
Maduro has intentionally promoted migration.
Over a quarter of our population, good people, working people, professionals, talented people.
I've left our country because there's no future, because there's persecution, because there's no freedom.
And uses Maduro migration as a weapon to destabilize the region.
This, everything can be solved.
Everything will be solved once we have a democratic government, a serious government that puts order in Venezuela.
Well, this week, the White House explicitly said that my father stands in opposition to the Maduro regime.
Maduro and Biden are the ones who flooded our nation with Tendulagua, as you mentioned, I mean, committing crimes, taking lives, and very open about it.
I mean, we know they let in, think about it, 13,000 murderers into our nation, 16,000 rapists.
That's Biden government statistics.
600,000 criminals, you know, as part of the Biden-created invasion.
It's wild.
But can you put into perspective...
You know, the evils here.
Did Maduro really empty the prisons?
Is that just a talking point?
And, you know, what's his endgame with all of this?
Oh, his endgame is to damage and destabilize the United States, period.
That's what they want.
He's allied to the enemies of America.
And that's something that is well known, and he publicized it.
And certainly he did that.
And he's using these criminal networks, Trenderagua and others, as a way to destabilize the region.
Trenderagua is already executing operations in seven countries in our continent.
Trenderagua was used in 2017 to attack innocent protesters here in Venezuela.
And as I say, they are now using El Trenderagua to get also other kind of resources and income for the regime.
So, and you probably saw the face of Islao Cabello when he received some of the members of El Trenderagua.
They were received as heroes.
When we receive, and when we are in the government in Venezuela, we will receive every single individual that has committed a crime.
And they will face justice and punishment because these are transnational organizations that need to be dismantled in a coordinated manner.
That's precisely what we're going to do.
I mean, I love your passion, your will to fight.
It's interesting.
I see, you know, so many Venezuelans.
I live in Florida, so obviously.
A lot of the Venezuelan migrants, the people who did so legally and or were actually escaping persecution, not escaping jail sentences for being criminal drug gangs, were such proponents of what my father was trying to do for America.
And I think it's because they truly understand what the Democrat Party was bringing to America.
And it's what they left Venezuela for.
It was the...
Bad ideas that destroyed a once great nation.
So it's amazing to sort of see that support.
Is there things that the Venezuelan sort of expats that are now in America can do to help their own country, help you achieve what you're trying to do?
Because it seems like such a noble cause.
Oh, absolutely.
And let me tell you something.
Most of the Venezuelans abroad, as you say, and I know you have many Venezuelan friends, are good people, hardworking, that are investing and creating wealth and employment in the U.S. and around the world.
But they want to come back.
They want to come back to rebuild a nation that is going to be the strongest ally in the region.
For the United States and democracies in the Western Hemisphere.
And certainly they're doing a lot.
They're raising their voices and telling the world that there's no biggest opportunity from every perspective than a transition to democracy in Venezuela, that it's not true that Maduro is stronger.
As I said before, the only thing he's got left is repression because he knows the country hates him.
He's totally isolated internationally.
Because the world knows how he has violated human rights, committed crimes against humanity, and it is a criminal gang, an anarcho-regime in power, but they are fragile.
So this is the moment to act and act together.
It is our responsibility, Don, and we assume it to free Venezuela.
And we are executing our plan, but certainly we need a strong ally in the United States that will benefit as much.
Yeah, I mean, I know, you know, under Biden, we saw a reversal of the sanctions against Venezuela that my father put on in the first term.
My father, you know, many say, literally had him on the ropes.
It was the same with Iran.
They're basically running out of energy.
They're running out of money.
They have nowhere else to go.
They're about to collapse.
We sanctioned so many of the drug kingpins, corrupt businessmen.
But Biden let him off the hook.
He opened up the spigot of the American money.
We shut down American pipelines and started importing from Venezuela.
It really seems that Biden and really Democrat weak leadership allowed Maduro the time and money to cozy up to China and Iran, making it harder for us to do that later.
So Maduro is clinging on to power.
But what is different now?
What is different that can be done to stop the corruption and the evil?
You mentioned sort of the military seems to be at least, you know, not simply working for the regime anymore.
You know, how do you effectuate that kind of change, hopefully in a peaceful way?
Absolutely, in a peaceful way.
And I would say, first of all, everything's different.
I'll get into that.
But I've mentioned the past, because even though everything you said is true, there are still people.
That say, oh, maximum pressure didn't work.
What do you mean didn't work?
Yeah, there wasn't maximum pressure.
We were almost there.
Yeah, we had it.
We were almost there.
Absolutely.
And the fact was that Maduro was, you know, willing to accept a negotiation because he knew it was over.
But then they gave him oxygen.
They gave him...
Time.
He had a chance to recover.
And then he unleashed this huge repression wave against Venezuelan people when we defeated him by a landslide.
And now there are still some people that are saying, oh, well, perhaps we can get an arrangement with a criminal gang, a drug cartel.
So what's different now?
Everything's different.
First of all, we won.
And the world knows it.
And everybody knows Maduro is absolutely abandoned and cornered by the people.
Secondly, what we mentioned about the military.
The military are perhaps the sector of our population that are worst persecuted.
I mean, they are spied with Chinese technology and by Cuban agents.
There are hundreds of them have been imprisoned or disappeared.
Thousands that have been persecuted because the regime knows that all the structure, middle to low, is against him, as well as the police.
Third, as I mentioned also, Maduro International is absolutely isolated.
No one is going to lend him a dollar.
And fourth, and this is very important, there is a very strong new administration that had the correct vision.
On how to address a criminal structure.
This is not a political actor.
This is a criminal structure that should be addressed from a law enforcement approach.
And that is going to work.
And finally, I would say the Venezuelan people choose serious, strong leadership and we will not let go.
We will never surrender.
We have a plan to get rid of Maduro.
We're executing it, and we will win this battle.
So, Maria, what do you say to skeptics in America who say, you know, this is someone else's mess?
You know, why should the U.S. taxpayer care?
You know, God knows, you know, I've said that about Ukraine, where we're putting a quarter of a trillion dollars into, you know, a place no one cared about prior to three years ago.
You know, will U.S. Taxpayers have to foot the bill to fix this mess instead of you handling it yourselves.
You know, we don't want another endless war to break out.
But, you know, obviously this is a little different than Ukraine because this is right on our doorstep.
I mean, you know, quite essentially.
But Americans are tired of that.
You know, what is your message?
Is this different or would this turn into sort of another, you know, America-funded civil war?
No, that has nothing to do with it.
And first of all, I understand.
Of course I do.
The American people are tired of wars and sending your troops abroad and spending huge amounts of money very far away.
I understand that perfectly.
But you mentioned it.
Venezuela and Caracas is three hours away to Florida, to Miami.
Exactly the same flight.
In terms of hours from D.C. to Miami, so we're very close.
And the enemies of America are here, very close, in your backyard.
And they are here for a reason.
And having this regime here makes the United States be an unsafe place on the country.
Moving ahead in a transition, orderly, peaceful transition to democracy can be done, and this is good for American safety, prosperity, and freedom.
And, of course, this is our responsibility.
We are doing our part.
I mean, this is our country.
There are more than 2,000 people in jail, people killed, persecuted, in hiding, such as I am right now, because we are willing to do what it takes.
But this is a great opportunity, and it can be done.
And people will talk about...
You know, civil wars, they know nothing.
I mean, they don't understand what's going on in Venezuela.
We do not have religious differences.
We do not have racial or political or regional or social difference.
I mean, this is a society united.
90% of Venezuelan society want to get rid, not only of Maduro, of socialism.
I mean, when I started talking about fighting socialism 20 years ago, people said it was crazy.
Because that was the only thing we had known in Venezuela.
Now, 90% of the people understand that only with open markets, free markets, open societies, is that you can prosper so that you can have your children home.
I mean, we all have our children spread around the world.
We want them back home and build a great nation that's going to be the biggest deal, the biggest economic opportunity also for American business and companies.
It sounds, I mean, absolutely amazing.
And you're right, I guess 92% is different.
When you have those sort of internal wars, it's usually 50-50 and each side's taking a stand, you know, 90-something percent.
That's a pretty solid mandate.
That's about as solid as it gets in all of politics.
But, Maria, you've been completely censored in your own country, something that so many Americans, certainly on my side of the political spectrum, have had to deal with over here.
You a little bit more.
Maduro's gone after your family, your businesses.
They kicked you off ballots.
Platforms like Rumble that we're on right now are restricted in Venezuela, so it's hard to actually break through the narrative of the state-sponsored media.
Do you see parallels to what my father had to endure in the last election to what they're doing to you?
Oh, certainly.
And I see it in many places around the world.
But believe me, I've never seen what is going on and happened here.
You know?
Yeah, no, that's a whole different world.
As bad as ours was, I complain a lot only because I was a target of it myself, but no, I mean, what they're doing to you is different.
If you go to fill up your car at a gas station and they shut down the gas station for supporting you, you know, that's a little problem.
Though, you know, they did want to put us in jail for 750 years, so not ideal.
Yeah.
We get it.
It's never perfect, but you've had it worse.
You know, we need to sit down for a couple hours to tell you everything we face and what we have learned.
But we learned something.
You can win an election without money.
You can win an election without media.
You know how many interviews I had on national TV or radio during my primary campaign and then the presidential campaign?
Zero.
Not one.
Not one.
Journalists were threatened.
If they get me to interview me, they would close the media outlet.
They would persecute them.
And as you said, I was banned from taking flags, local flags.
I had to go in with my car.
If I stopped to buy food in a restaurant, they went and closed the restaurants.
For even tiny, humble ones for two or three months.
You know, there's one case, I have to tell you this, in Corozopando, a very humble place we stopped in the eastern part of Venezuela.
And when we left, the equivalent of the IRS, you know, the tax agency came and closed it.
So people started calling.
And through the social network of the small restaurant to buy empanadas for them.
And actually, in a week, they sold the equivalent of the whole year, of the whole year, because of what they had done to them.
So people reacted towards censorship, towards persecution, and we overcame every single obstacle.
But why did they do that?
Oh, because Maduro simply was afraid of me.
He feared me.
He knew I would beat him.
And actually, we did it, even with somebody else, a great ambassador, who accepted to take my place.
So this was huge.
So how do you break through that, right?
The censorship, I saw it when they did it, when they threw my father off Twitter back in 2020. You know, I dealt with it with the shadow banning and the attacks.
And, you know, for me...
It worked because I already had a large platform.
I was able to get on Rumble and build quickly because I had a following.
So I said, hey, before they throw me off here, follow me here.
Follow me on Telegram.
Hit me in these other places so you can get it.
How did you break through all of that?
Because that would seem to be an almost insurmountable obstacle.
Even if they covered my father, it was always negative, but he at least got coverage.
And then people can decide for themselves, even through the noise, even through the bias.
They still got some of it.
How did you break through that you can have such a decisive victory without any actual media in a nation, especially where so much of social itself is also censored?
So it's not like you had that many other avenues.
How did you get that message out there?
How did the people band together in such a formidable way?
I would say organization, organization.
People realized what this meant.
This is a new era.
That has already started in Venezuela.
I mean, this is a social and cultural movement against socialism, against corruption, against evil, against violence, against families divided, against poverty.
People want to live well, with dignity, with their own work.
And so we realized that we had to create networks.
And of course, we had social media.
I mean, even though the regime went.
I was surprised because I reached these super tiny towns, you know, 15 hours away that I had to go driving.
And I said, well, nobody's going to show up.
They don't know I'm coming.
And suddenly you see hundreds and thousands of people even threatened.
They told them that they did come.
To join me, they would lose their jobs.
They would lose their handouts and things like that.
And people went courageously.
So that's why I tell you, Dawn, this has no way back.
I mean, this is an existential fight for freedom.
And you are seeing this happening around the world.
And people speak with the truth, with pride, even though, yes, we are facing horrible repression as we speak.
But we're going to move forward because we know we have true allies now that understand the value that Venezuela represents for this new security approach of the Americas, of our continent.
Well, it also seems you have really strong allies and leaders like Mille in Argentina, Bukele in El Salvador, Maloney in Italy, and even Elon Musk.
What could have free...
And prosperous Venezuela mean for reshaping all of the Americas.
You know, we're talking about that bolstering up American security against adversaries like China and Iran.
You know, how does that look to you?
What would your vision be if you were in charge?
Oh, wow.
This is the great part.
And you mentioned really good friends.
Javier Mille is a super good friend.
Jordan Abeloni has been so supportive to us.
And imagine, you know what we're going to do?
We're going to turn Venezuela from the criminal hub of the Americas into the energy hub of the Americas.
That's what we're talking about.
You know, forget about Saudi Arabia.
Forget about the Saudis.
I mean, we have more oil.
I mean, infinite potential.
And we're going to open markets.
We're going to kick off the government.
From the oil sector, we are going to privatize.
All our industries, Venezuela, has huge resources.
Oil, gas, minerals, land, technology.
And as you said before, we have a strategic...
You know, ours from the United States.
So we're going to do this right.
We know what we have to do.
We know the failure to solution has been, and we're going to put order.
We're going to have a rule of law.
It's going to be clear, transparent.
It's going to be so attractive that no other country in the world is going to be competitive to what we're going to design.
And American companies are in, you know, super strategic position to invest.
I know that some people have come to President Trump and say, well, can we make some business with Maduro?
And I say, really?
So you want to be a partner, partnership with the cartel, the drug cartel?
Is that what you are proposing?
But also, to do what?
Very little money.
Little money.
This is crumbs.
Venezuela should be producing right now.
Over six million barrels a day.
It's barely a million.
And who's going to invest in a country in which you have a criminal in power that at any moment can change the rules or rob you?
So what I'm talking is about huge opportunities done.
And this is open in a win-win relationship for Venezuelan people and also for the American people.
Well, we just have some big breaking news, actually, right now.
My team just sent it to me, literally just now.
So we're recording this about two hours in advance of the show.
Obviously, you're in hiding.
We're trying to keep things separate from that.
So by the time this airs at 6, people may already know that.
But literally just now, my father killed the Chevron license, literally happening right now.
I'm assuming that's oil and gas.
So Chevron, who's an American company.
Was able to have the license to do this, supporting a dictatorial, illegal regime.
Apparently, that's just been revoked.
Your reaction?
Wow, I'm just learning about it.
Talking about understanding.
That's a big one.
Talking about understanding what ought to be done.
Maduro has to understand that President Trump is serious about behaving well.
And that the criminals will be held accountable.
This country, Venezuela, is going to be the brightest opportunity for investment of American companies, of good people that are going to make a lot of money, but it's going to turn also very positive, of course, for the Venezuelan people.
What you just mentioned, it's approved for me.
That President Trump is on the side of the Venezuelan people, of democracy and prosperity for the U.S. and for Venezuela as well.
Yeah, it feels like, you know, oil is maybe the only thing they have left under this, you know, regime, perhaps that and the illegal drug trade.
And Maduro's cronies are sitting on it.
They're profiteering from it.
They're skimming from it.
You know, hopefully this is something that that pulls that card away from him, that he can't keep wreaking this havoc.
I guess we're going to find out if he's really weak or if he's actually strong once he loses that sort of lifeline, so to speak.
Believe me, Maduro is terrified.
With Donald Trump.
Terrified.
And the regime is as well.
They thought.
That the world will turn the page on all their crimes, their liaisons with Iran, with Hezbollah, with Hamas, with the drug cartels, all the crimes that they have committed, the threats to U.S. security.
They thought people would turn the page back, and that's simply not going to happen.
As I mentioned...
We've never had a bigger opportunity than we have right now, biggest opportunity, to move ahead and make them understand that their only option is a negotiated, orderly, peaceful transition.
And this, what you just told me, is exactly the path ahead.
Well, we actually have my father's official statement on the revocation of the Chevron license, and it says, and I quote, We are hereby reversing the concessions that crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela on the oil transaction agreement dated November 26, 2022. So this kills the Chevron license, correct?
I mean, you think this is the opportunity that perhaps you need to get him to the table to make sure people understand that America actually means business and that, let's just say, those concessions are no longer going to allow them just to continue this nonsense.
This is a huge step and this sends a clear, firm message that Maduro is in huge trouble and President Trump is with the Venezuelan people, with security, freedom.
Prosperity and peace for the whole region.
This is huge.
It feels well strange to learn about the decision of the president.
I thought this was going to be breaking news within breaking news.
No, no, no.
And read by his son.
I mean, this is quite strange.
For the record, I had no idea that was going on because somebody will try to arrest me again here for the seeming coincidence.
I have my doubts.
I don't know if you're...
This is quite a coincidence.
But it's a good coincidence and it gives me the opportunity to send my gratitude to President Trump through you.
This is the correct thing to do.
It's the right thing to do.
It's the right moment to do.
And I'm sure that this will have consequences in the very short term.
And I'm sure Venezuelan people right now feel secure that we are not alone.
Maria, you know, I know you're also a huge advocate for cryptocurrency.
You know, obviously something, you know, we're big advocates on because we've seen sort of the, you know, the warped nature of the typical financial structure.
I think the democratization of finance is a great idea.
So important for so many people around the world, especially in circumstances like yours under a dictatorial regime.
I can certainly see the benefits.
Can you talk about that, how it could free so many people from this oppression?
What are your thoughts?
Well, I've been into Bitcoin for quite a time, and I think it is the platform through which a lot of people, as you say, can overcome.
The kind of persecution the regime has done, what it did in the media, in the financial sector.
And I think in the case of Venezuela, we have huge opportunities for Bitcoin in our government.
And I have also talked about it in several specialized spaces, because I think that the oil sector could also have put a lot of boost and energy on Bitcoin in Venezuela.
Would you advocate for some sort of strategic reserve in Venezuela eventually, taking some of that oil money, converting it to into a Bitcoin reserve, so to speak, or any of the other?
the big ones out there?
Oh, yes, I have mentioned that.
I think part of Venezuelan reserves in Bitcoin could be a very powerful tool in the future.
That's excellent.
When you talk about the next steps for you, how does it work?
Is there another election that they're just going to ignore?
Hopefully these sanctions, I guess, is what they would be, force that hand a little bit.
But what's the purpose of the elections if they're just going to be ignored?
Is it just about getting the will of the people to understand and eventually...
You know, that dam has to break.
It's sort of hard to believe it doesn't break at 90 percent because, again, I think that's unheard of in the world of politics.
But what are those next steps for you and for the people of Venezuela?
This is a very good question, Don.
I mean, on July 28th, when the regime realized that they weren't going to get out with their fraud because we were able to collect the tally sheets.
And I have to tell you, not only we scanned them.
We were able to put them on a website thanks to Starlink equipment that we have got secretly uncovered in our country.
That day, Maduro decided to close any possibility of election in the future.
I mean, they didn't publish one number.
They just decided Maduro.
It was the winner period, without showing one number.
They went against our polling monitors.
They got our people in prison just because they refused to give away the telescopes they were defending.
So, obviously, they closed the electoral path while Maduro is in power.
But we have to build enough pressure to create the incentives for Maduro to understand.
That staying in power is going to be much more costly than accepting a transition to democracy.
And that's precisely what we need to do right now.
The only thing Maduro has left, as I say, is the money that right now started to be cut and repression.
Once we weaken repression and we are organizing and relaunching our civic movement, there's nothing left for him.
But to go.
And he will have to go, Don.
Well, yeah, no, I think you're 100% right.
And for those of you who are just tuning in right now, as I said, breaking news, it's literally happening right now.
The Biden-era Chevron license in Venezuela is dead.
My father is just announcing this.
Can you just, again, perhaps explain how big a deal that is?
Because, again, I think it's the oil that's kept all of that.
I know we had other big news.
Rick Rennell was just in Venezuela bringing back six American hostages.
Maduro now claims he'll take back more deportees.
Those next steps, it feels like he's definitely on the ropes.
He's starting to work.
What do you see as next steps, and what do you think that relationship will be like for Venezuela, perhaps yourself, and the new Trump administration?
Well, there are many things that you have said.
I want to go through them quickly.
First, for every dollar Chevron got, Maduro got $3.
That's how bad it is.
It's billions of dollars that he has used for repression, persecution, and corruption.
That's over.
That's so important.
Secondly, of course, I'm aware of the task and the proposal of the visit of the special envoy, Richard Grinnell.
I spoke with him before and after his visit, and I understand he had a mission to take the hostages back home.
And I have great relations, I have to say, with many members of the Trump administration.
Mike Waltz has been a...
True champion, ally of the Venezuelan cause.
Of course, he's the national security advisor.
Marco Rubio, while he was a senator, he was one of the strongest voices to defend the Venezuelan cause and Cuba and Nicaragua.
Because once Maduro goes, you will see Cuba and Nicaragua fall as well.
And Latin America and the Americas will be, for the first time, three.
Of socialism and communism and tyrannies.
And certainly we have great friends in Congress, such as Senator Rick Scott and the representatives Mario Diaz-Balard, Mario Elvira Salazar, Carlos Jiménez, the Speaker Johnson.
Johnson is a great supporter of our cause.
So we know we are surrounded by a great team that trusts Venezuela and we trust them as well.
Maria, we've seen what a change in leadership can do for people of countries like El Salvador with Bukele.
I mean, just what an amazing turnaround from one of the highest crime nations in the world to one of the lowest in a few years.
You've seen it with Mille in Argentina turning what seemed like just an infinite stagflation to balanced budgets.
Sort of finish up.
Imagine that you're sitting with my father.
What would you tell him?
What's your concrete plan?
How do you make the election that you won actually be acknowledged?
And how do you have a peaceful transfer of power to stop the chaos?
How do you do this without turning Venezuela into another Libya or Iraq, which would be examples of sort of where that went wrong and just led to just downright instability?
Well, I really look forward to it.
To that moment, I really do.
And I would say, look, Mr. President, Venezuela is the biggest opportunity in this continent for you, for the American people, and for all the people in our continent, certainly for Venezuelans.
And we have the plan to move forward.
We're actually already executing it.
The plan to...
To get Maduro out.
We assume our responsibility.
We do our part here.
And we have proved it so far.
And we will never stop working.
Days and night.
But we need a true ally that exactly knows what to do.
We don't need.
We don't need.
Boots on the ground.
We don't need soldiers in Venezuela.
That's crazy.
We don't even need resources because we have the possibility to pay for freedom and to pay for the rebuilding of our country.
We have those resources.
Other countries, unfortunately, do not have them.
And we have this plan ready to work together for rebuilding Venezuela, opening markets, and getting great opportunities for All the actors in business in the U.S. and in the region.
And I want to be very clear regarding these fears about what happened in Libya, as you mentioned, or Syria.
Look, there is zero possibility of a civil war in Venezuela.
Zero.
This is a country that is united.
And I tell you, even the military, even the police.
We want this change as much as we do.
And we know what to do the first day we arrive in power.
We have a 100-day emergency plan for every single sector.
We have our teams with talented, professional people, some here, many around the world, that are desperate to come back and start rebuilding the nation.
That is, as I say, we're going to turn it from the criminal hub of the Americas into the energy hub of the Americas, the strongest allies in security, in energy and in democracy for the United States.
That's what we are going to be and we're going to do it together.
Well, Maria, Corina, Machado, thank you so much.
What an incredible moment in history.
Truly honor your bravery, all of the things that you're doing.
I think it's a great example for so many people in the world.
So thank you.
I really appreciate it.
I wish you all the luck.
Anything I can help do to support that, make sure your voice is heard and amplified.
It'd be an honor to be a tiny part of it.
So keep going strong.
I really look forward to seeing what you can do with your country.
Thank you so much, Don.
This means a lot to us.
We know we can count on you and trust us.
Trust the Venezuelan people.
We're going to do it right and we will win.
Don't doubt it.
Thank you so much.
Take care.
Thank you again.
Be well.
Maria, thank you so very much.
We appreciate your incredible efforts, your fighting.
It's a really big deal.
And guys, coming up, we'll get into the other top headlines to close out the show.
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And now, guys, let's get into some of the other top headlines.
We begin with the regime media meltdown over at the White House Correspondents Association.
Press Secretary Caroline Levitt announced Tuesday that the White House would now determine which reporters make up the press pool instead of the White House Correspondents Association, which blocks out many independent and conservative media outlets.
They function purely as regime propagandists, bolstering the leftist buddies of theirs.
While blocking out anyone else who actually may get you the truth.
Here's the White House Press Secretary explaining that decision yesterday.
As you all know, for decades, a group of D.C.-based journalists, the White House Correspondents Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the President of the United States in these most intimate spaces.
Not anymore.
I am proud to announce that we are going to give the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows, and who listen to your radio stations.
Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team.
Legacy outlets who have participated in the press pool for decades will still be allowed to join.
Fear not.
But we will also be offering the privilege to well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility.
Now, we're also learning that Eugene Daniels, the president of the White House Correspondents Association, is leaving Politico and joining MSNBC to co-host a weekend roundtable show.
Here he is on your screen.
Now, Kamala Harris's comms director.
is going to MSNBC. That wouldn't be noteworthy, except for the fact that he demanded, it seems, Joy Reid's wardrobe to be included in that deal as part of the switch.
It's an interesting getup we got going on right now, guys.
Rather wild, but hey, nothing surprises me in 2025 anymore.
And meanwhile, the Trump administration...
is clearing out the rot inside every corner of government.
Just look at this report from Chris Rufo, friend of this show.
He's uncovered that in a secret NSA chatroom, NSA chatroom, guys, NSA, DNI, and Spacecom officials claim that Tulsi Gabbard is fervently anti-queer and a Russian agent and a member of the MAGA cult.
These employees include at least one, probably many, They thems, okay?
The pronouns are abundant, folks.
And they're attempting to undermine Tulsi Gabbard from within.
And even worse, creeps at the NSA were caught fantasizing about having hermaphrodite babies.
Honestly, guys, I feel like sometimes I'm reporting on like an episode of South Park and like someone's punking me, but they're not.
NSA members, people from the National Security Committee, they're fantasizing about having hermaphrodite babies so that they could raise them in non-binary fashion, I guess.
I don't even know what any of that means, but it ain't good and it really has no business at the NSA. This is all from newly uncovered messages.
Well, Tulsi Gabbard says these creeps have been fired, but how many more are there?
How many are smart enough to perhaps cover their tracks or not throw in their pronouns?
How many are just simply subverting the will of the people, the mandate from the American voter, the autonomy of some of these people in government?
How many are still in there quietly subverting it?
And I imagine the answer is a lot.
It's another reason why Democrats get so upset about Doge.
This stuff is beyond sick.
We only wish the NSA had shredded their secret sex chats.
We told you how intel officials were using government chat rooms to brag about their fetishes, kinks, and sex changes.
Journalist Chris Ruffo just uncovered more messages.
Viewer warning.
Creeps at the NSA were fantasizing about having hermaphrodite babies so they could raise them non-binary.
They were also trashing conservatives like Ben Shapiro, calling them effing monsters.
And after Pat Robertson died, CIA workers celebrated.
Quote, I was always taught never to say anything about the dead unless it's good.
He's dead.
Good.
The lawfare, the deep state, all the bad actors, they are on notice.
Yesterday, my father signed an executive order suspending security clearances for Covington and Berkling.
The LLP, the law firm, employees who worked with deranged Jack Smith to weaponize government against my father and the American people.
At the outset of your administration, sir, you committed to ending the weaponization of government, to holding those accountable who participated in the weaponization of government?
Hold it.
This is a good one.
Is everybody listening?
Deranged Jack Smith.
We're going to call it the deranged Jack Smith.
Signing for Bill.
Go ahead.
One law firm that provided pro bono legal services to the special counsel's office under Jack Smith's leadership was Covington& Burling.
As a result of those actions, we're now going to be suspending and putting under review the security clearances for the attorneys and employees at that firm who worked with Jack Smith's team.
And we're going to continue holding the people who were responsible for the weaponization of government, who supported it, accountable for what they did.
And you'll be doing this with other firms as time goes by, right?
We're looking at sort of the whole panoply of options.
The weaponization of our system by law firms, even pro bono work they're doing, just in order to clog up government, stop government.
And nobody knows about it more than me.
And hopefully that'll never happen again.
Mr. President, may I ask you a question about Europe?
So long-term, do you plan to maintain the number of U.S. troops stationed?
Wait, I just want to savor this one, please.
Who would like this pen?
Why don't you send it to Jack Smith?
A deranged person.
And earlier today, my father had his first cabinet meeting, where he announced that Zelensky will be at the White House Friday to sign an agreement on rare earth minerals.
Is the endless war, the endless bailout, finally coming to an end?
Right?
All of a sudden, rather than just giving them money for no cost, maybe we actually get something in return?
I mean, you know, we're funding this thing indefinitely.
We're funding it more than anyone else by a lot.
Maybe.
We should at least get some, I don't know, return on investment.
Seems like a basic concept that no one in government had thought of, apparently, before my father.
And my father is doing something novel.
He's actually negotiating a deal, guys.
A deal that will benefit Americans and will make America richer.
Incredible concept, folks.
Hard to believe, you know?
Seems so obvious, and yet it's so not for so many people.
We appreciate you being here, and we've put together a great cabinet, and we've had tremendous success.
We've been given a lot of credit for having a very successful first month, and we want to make that many months and years, actually.
But we're going to have many good months, and we're going to have many good years, I hope, and we're going to solve a lot of problems.
We're doing very well with Russia and Ukraine.
President Zelensky is going to be coming on Friday.
That's now confirmed.
And we're going to be signing an agreement, which will be a very big agreement.
And I want to thank Howard and Scott for the job you guys did in putting it together.
Really did an amazing job.
And that'll be on rare earth and other things.
And as you know, we're in for probably $350 billion.
Europe is in for $100 billion.
And that's a big difference.
So we're in for probably three times as much, and yet it's very important to everybody, but Europe is very close.
We have a big ocean separating us, so it's very important for Europe, and they hopefully will step up and do maybe more than they're doing, and maybe a lot more.
The previous administration put us in a very bad position, but we've been able to make a deal where we're going to get And we'll have even more to cover next week as big things are happening and the news is constantly breaking.
Guys, thank you so much for tuning in.
I thought that was an amazing interview.
I love what's going on right here in our country.
Please remember to like Share, subscribe, hit the button, share it.
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