Trump Pinched as He Gets in Bed With "Socialist" Accused Money Launderer to Plunder Venezuela’s Oil!

0:00Michael Popok:And now with new reporting, we know why Donald Trump and his administration could care less about the Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, because they're too busy playing footsie and getting into bed with Alejandro Betancourt. Alejandro Betancourt now at the center of this new announcement that the American government and its Department of Defense is going to take a 35 % equity stake in a company run by Alejandro Betancourt that has access to 17 oil reserve fields in Venezuela. In return, the government is not only going to get that 35 % stake and profit as a result, but the Department of Defense is going to get access to 20 % of oil at costs.

0:48Michael Popok:Alejandro Betancourt is this close to being a criminal. Not only was he considered to be a bolachico, a bolachico was a, he made his money under Hugo Chavez's rule, socialist rule in Venezuela that the first Trump administration was against. He was one of the bolachico billionaires that made billions and billions of dollars taking money out of Venezuela and away from the Venezuelan people and sending it out of the country. His cousin and others were indicted. He was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in federal prosecutions. He was investigated and prosecuted by the Swiss and our allies in the United Kingdom.

1:38And he hired Rudy Giuliani at the request, obviously, of Donald Trump to get him out of all of those pickles. In fact, the link continues. The reporting shows that when Rudy Giuliani was lobbying the Ukrainians to go after Joe Biden and do other investigations, guess whose palatial estate in Madrid he stayed at? His client, Alejandro Betancourt. And Alejandro Betancourt is now considered to be, by the Trump administration, the most important ally they have between Delce Rodriguez's government. She was the lieutenant for Maduro who took over after we deposed Maduro in Venezuela. And America, sitting in the middle, about to reap the billions of dollars of oil money, is Alejandro Betancourt.

2:33Nothing like doing business with a socialist who ripped off his own country for billions of dollars and was an unindicted co-conspirator in criminal cases in America. That's who Donald Trump does business with. That's who Donald Trump wants the Department of Defense to get into bed with. I'm Michael Popak.

2:52Michael Popok:This all came out with Washington Post and other reporting over the weekend. I follow these things closely because I live in Miami, very close to an exiled Venezuelan community. And I have a lot of sources concerning Alejandro Betancourt. Not the first time that I've either heard of nor reported on Alejandro Betancourt or the Bolachico billionaires. Let's get down to it. It's Monday morning on Legal AF. Let's kick it off. Alejandro Betancourt sits at the middle. He originally had a company that he operated in Venezuela that was called Derwick Associates. Derwick Associates overcharged, according to investigations, the Venezuelan government related to electrical power grid issues and the state oil company overbilled them$2.9 billion.

3:49Michael Popok:About half of that ended up getting out of the country through a money laundering scheme that the United States called Operation Money Flight. His cousin was indicted. His close personal friend of Betancourt indicted in America. The only reason that Alejandro Betancourt wasn't indicted is because he hired Rudy Giuliani. Rudy Giuliani went to the Department of Justice at the time, I believe it was under Bill Barr for Donald Trump, and convinced them not to indict Alejandro Betancourt. Alejandro Betancourt also has a close relationship with a guy named Mauricio Claver-Coron. Mauricio Claver-Coron was Donald Trump in the first term's director of the National Security Council's Western Hemisphere Directorate.

4:42Michael Popok:He was very close to Betancourt, considered Betancourt to be somebody they could count on, especially if they ever decided to overthrow Venezuela, something that apparently Rudy Giuliani was trying to convince John Bolton. You know, the guy that was indicted, used to be the head of the National Security Council. Rudy Giuliani was saying, we can use a guy like Alejandro Betancourt and all of his money as our gateway into Venezuela and take over the oil fields. Who knew it was effectively Rudy Giuliani's original idea? So Mauricio Claver Caron sees Betancourt and continues to see him as a valuable asset in Venezuela.

5:23Claver Caron still an advisor to the Trump administration and leading them right to Alejandro Betancourt. See, Maria Karina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize and then gave it to Donald Trump as an act of tribute to try to get him on her side, she's got no chance. Donald Trump doesn't care about that. He wants to get into bed with a person who has the whiff of criminal conduct around him, fraudulent conduct around him, ripping off his country and taking billions of dollars out of the mouths and hands of the Venezuelan people and sending it abroad through a money laundering scheme. That is a stakeholder that Donald Trump can do business with.

6:07And that's who, talk about, if you lay down with dogs, you get fleas. Think about the fleas he wants Americans to attract, to suffer, because now Now we're unwittingly, unwillingly going to be in business with Alejandro Betancourt and a company that he founded called North American Blue Energy Partners.

6:32Michael Popok:North American Blue Energy Partners, which has the right to these 17 oil fields and a 65 billion barrel reserve. One of the largest reserves in the world is in Venezuela. So they're going to do the deal through our Chevrons, through our U.S. oil companies with Betancourt's company, give the Defense Department a stake, an equity stake in oil fields, which they're not entitled or are lawfully able to make, and then prop up, continue to prop up the government of Delcy Rodriguez. I don't want to be in business with Alejandro Betancourt, the Bola Chico billionaire who ripped off his own country and was an unindicted co-conspirator.

7:21For money laundering, I don't want to be in business with him. But Trump has no problem with it. It has no problem having the American government literally go into business with somebody who is an unindicted co-conspirator that the Swiss and the United Kingdom are after. In fact, the further reporting is that the United States, I mean, now, not in the first term, under the current Trump administration, I'm talking Pam Bondi, I'm talking Todd Blanche in the Department of Justice. The reporting is they reached out to their Swiss and UK counterparts to try to convince them to let Alejandro Betancourt travel after they got rid of Maduro.

8:05So they said it was a law enforcement action, right? Taking out Maduro. Well, in order to have Maduro come out, and in order for America under Trump to take over Venezuela's oil fields, they needed Alejandro Betancourt, and they needed him to be able to travel freely.

8:25Michael Popok:Hence, Blanche and Bondi lobbying UK and Swiss to get him off of the Interpol list or whatever list he was on that limited his travel. That was step one. Remember during the first Trump administration, how they talked about Venezuela in the terms of socialism and corruption and Maduro and all that? Well, where do you think he made all of his money? He made it all under Chavez and the socialism and the corruption. You know, I'm watching the New York Post going after the democratic socialist of America, you know, like AOC and others. And they love to point out that these people either have money or have earned money.

9:07I thought they were socialists. Why do they have money? They want to take over the means of capital production. And yet I don't think they understand the democratic socialist platform. What a socialist is doesn't mean you took a vow of poverty, you know, like some sort of monk, and you give up all of your worldly possessions. It just talks about how capital and labor and the relationship is wrong and needs to be reallocated. Communism is what they're talking about. That's not what the democratic socialists are. But certainly the socialist of Venezuela, of which Betancourt was a part, proves my point.

9:48I don't want to be in business with Alejandro Betancourt. I don't want to own 17 oil fields in Venezuela. And the Venezuelan people don't want it either. I mean, you've got Maduro back on social media. He's facing a trial. He's back on social media decrying the ripoff and rape of Venezuela. I'm Michael Popak.

10:12Michael Popok:I continue to follow it from my vantage point down here in Miami, close to the Venezuelan community on Legal AF. And you'll catch me in one more. I got two more videos coming up in the next two hours here on Legal AF YouTube channel. In the meantime, take a minute, hit the free subscribe button. Until my next report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there.

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