In short
The episode argues that a Trump administration move against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro—framed in indictments as tied to cocaine trafficking and weapons—may instead be a pretext to gain control of Venezuela’s oil assets, including Citgo/PDVSA interests, and potentially to counter Russian involvement.
Guest backgrounds
Michael Popak (host, Midas Touch Network/Legal AF) based in Miami; he cites personal connections to the Venezuelan community in South Florida.
Key claims
Venezuela holds ~303 billion barrels (Faja del Orinoco), production down from ~3.2B bpd (1990s) to ~1B bpd; Citgo was nationalized; sanctions and aging infrastructure reduced output; Russia has ~49% interest via PDVSA-related structures; Blue Water Acquisition bid ~$10B for Citgo assets; Fritz Fortmiller/Harrodin Circle invests in related deals.
Notable examples
Mentions a 2020 and 2022 indictment and a new indictment released within 24 hours; compares Maduro’s case to Trump’s recent Honduras cocaine-trafficker pardon; raises “day one after regime change” concerns and questions planning by Marco Rubio and others.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOTrump's Indictments and Venezuela
3:27 to 4:48
Explore the connections between Trump's actions and Venezuelan oil.
“Cocaine trafficking or Venezuelan oil reserves that rival and beat Saudi Arabians?”
The Venezuelan Oil Reserves
4:48 to 7:40
Learn about the scale of Venezuela's oil reserves and their history.
“I mean, there's one from the last 24 hours, sorry.”
Citgo and U.S. Interests
7:40 to 9:07
Understand the implications of Citgo's assets and ownership.
“So they used to in the 90s and during Hugo Chavez's days, they used to produce for the world about 3.2 billion barrels a day.”
Cocaine and Regime Change
9:07 to 11:15
Delve into the cocaine trafficking allegations related to Maduro.
“That's why the Russians got upset when we interdicted one of the oil tankers, because it was theirs.”
Planning for Venezuela's Future
11:15 to 14:01
Discuss the challenges of establishing a democratic government post-Maduro.
“Do I doubt that Maduro and his family, including his sons, were involved in narco-terrorism?”
Concerns Over Leadership and Planning
14:01 to 14:40
Discussion on the lack of leadership and planning in war-torn regions like Venezuela and Gaza.
“So I'm worried about it and the violation of the Colin Powell Doctrine, which is if you broke it, you bought it.”
Transcript
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3:27Popok:Cocaine trafficking or Venezuelan oil reserves that rival and beat Saudi Arabians? What do you think led our most recently cognitively tested president to give the green light to take out Niccolo Maduro from Venezuela, along with his wife, and indict them in New York? Cocaine trafficking and machine guns, which is what the new indictment says, similar to an indictment that Donald Trump's first administration brought against Maduro? Or is it the oil reserves and a company called Citgo, which used to be an American company until it was, through socialism, nationalized by Venezuela? And Donald Trump and Republicans and others have tried to get their hands back on Venezuelan oil ever since.
4:13Popok:How can you square taking out Maduro for cocaine trafficking when in the last 30 days Donald Trump pardoned President Hernandez of Honduras, who was serving 45 years in prison in New York for having been the largest cocaine trafficker in the Western Hemisphere? So is it cocaine or is it the fact that Venezuela has the largest oil reserve in fields in the world? I cover it all. I'm Midas Touch and Legal AF. Sure, the indictment is interesting. There's two of them. There's one from 2020. There's one from 2022. I mean, there's one from the last 24 hours, sorry. and sure, I could bore you to death with the actual allegations of the indictment, unless it's all a ruse, to get Donald Trump and his cronies and American interests that support Donald Trump to get their hands on Venezuelan oil reserve.
5:16Popok:Now, let me be clear. I'm Michael Popak. You're on Midas Touch Network and Legal AF. I feel for the Venezuelan people. I live in Miami. I have many friends that are from the Venezuelan proud. Venezuelan community. I am sure that in Doral, in Weston, in Kendall, there are celebrations going on on the street because of regime change. I'm not worried about the regime change and the interesting things about CIA drones and Delta Force and all of that, because I'm more interested in what is the plan and who's doing the planning for plus one day one after regime change. I know there's a big press conference going on, but you think Marco Rubio is capable of planning a regime change and a peaceful transfer of power in another country?
6:04Popok:Look what they've done to this country. Are we installing Maria Corina Machado, the super popular opposition leader in exile who won the Nobel Peace Prize over Donald Trump? Are we installing her? Are we going back to the president that was elected before Machado? And what is the plan for a peaceful transfer of power and democratic elections in Venezuela? And how are we going to support them? Has all this been planned out? Let me focus on oil and a side note, side car on cocaine. Let's talk about oil. Venezuela, not only as part of OPEC, but has the largest oil reserves in the world, greater than Saudi Arabia.
6:53Popok:303 billion barrels of oil reside in the fields off the coast of and the fields of Venezuela, making it the number one in the world. Almost 20 % of all known oil in the world is in Venezuela. It sits primarily in a field known as the Faja del Orinoco field. Sorry for my pronunciation. It is extra heavy crude, which requires a lot of technology and infrastructure to convert into light crude, which is what we need to fuel economies and cars and things like that. their extraction has been depleted because of aging infrastructure, sanctions, and the like over the last 30, 40 years. So they used to in the 90s and during Hugo Chavez's days, they used to produce for the world about 3.2 billion barrels a day.
7:54Popok:It's dropped to about one billion barrels. And a lot of those barrels ended up going to Cuba for free to pay for security forces to protect Maduro. See, that's a little known fact. Cuba has been protected. They don't really have a, I mean, they do, but they don't really have a powerful Venezuelan Air Force or Navy or Army. That's why he's had to have Cuban murderers protect him and pay them off in oil. That's why I went so quickly in taking them over. But the oil reserves are primarily assets also of a formerly American company who lost its assets in a socialization, nationalization campaign known as Citgo.
8:42Popok:People that grew up in America, we all know Citgo. So Citgo Petroleum has U.S. assets, and it stopped paying its bills recently. And actually, there was a bankruptcy judge who was responsible for selling off some of Citgo Petroleum owned by the Venezuelan government in conjunction with the Russians recently. That's why the Russians got upset when we interdicted one of the oil tankers, because it was theirs. Why is it theirs? Because they're in bed or were in bed with the Maduro regime through the Citgo Petroleum and through a company in Venezuela, now known as Petroleos de Venezuela, PDVSA. And the Russians have a 49 % ownership interest in that.
9:34Popok:So by taking out Venezuelan oil, you're also, it's a twofer, you're also taking on Russia. Now, let's go to the Trump inner circle as it relates to oil assets. You've got people like Joe Hernandez at Blue Water Acquisition Corporation. What's that? That's an entity that's had investors, including many people in Donald Trump's inner circle at Trump Social, like Devin Nunez and the rest and officers there. They have made a bid for$10 billion to acquire Citgo Petroleum's American and other assets, including oil fields. You see the connectivity here? Then we're going to focus today on a guy named Fritz Fortmiller.
10:20Fritz Fortmiller is an investor.
10:23Popok:He has a company called Harrodin Circle. And through Harrodin Circle, he's made investments not only in the Citgo Petroleum him, attempted acquisition by Blue Water, but also in Don Jr. and Eric Trump's businesses. And he's in bed with Cantor Fitzgerald through a number of investment vehicles. Cantor Fitzgerald, it's the family-owned business of the Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick. See, I haven't mentioned, I'm at this seven minutes so far, I haven't mentioned cocaine once. Because who believes it's cocaine? Nobody.
11:00Popok:Now, let's turn to cocaine for a minute. And then I want to talk about regime change. And I'll probably spend more time talking about regime change here than Donald Trump thought about it with his cognitively tested mind. The cocaine trafficking allegations. Do I doubt that Maduro and his family, including his sons, were involved in narco-terrorism? No. Now, do I doubt that he was in bed with the FARC and the trend de Aragua? No. Do I doubt that he's a narco-terrorist by technical definition? I don't doubt that at all. Do I doubt that there could have been legitimate reasons to assist with regime change in Venezuela?
11:41Popok:The United States is known for regime change around the world since the 1940s. No, no, not at all. And I'm not defending Maduro. I want to make that clear to people who like to troll our channel. What I am saying is the facade, the pretext of cocaine trafficking, it ain't it. Not when you let President Hernandez of Honduras out in the last month. Maybe if you hadn't done that, Trump, we could maybe believe you're taking him out for cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, which is all over the new indictment that just got released in the last 24 hours. However, let's talk about what happens next. It's great.
12:23Popok:You know, Venezuelan flags being waved on the streets. People died during the operation. I'm sorry if they were innocent civilians. What do you do next? How do you set up the peaceful transfer of power? Does anybody trust the Trump administration to be responsible and be the stewards for democracy coming into Venezuela? Look what he's done to democracy in America. That's his day job. Marco Rubio's in charge. Marco Rubio is a low light. Okay. I know Marco Rubio from Florida. He was a partner in one of my law firms a million years ago. He is all hat and no cattle, if you know what I'm talking about.
13:00Popok:He is an empty suit. and he and if he's responsible for what happens next when are the elections who's in charge in the meantime how do we bring maria uh corina machado back from her exile how do we get elections so that that democracy holds what's that what's the shape of that democracy look like is it right right right wing almost fascist dictator like like uh like in brazil is it another a Trumper. We know that Maria Corina Machado is not like that. She's more of the Claudia Scheinbaum of Mexico school of thought, if you know what I mean. So who's making those plans? And what is the interim government in the meantime?
13:44Popok:We think we're going to hear that today in the Rose Garden from Donald Trump? No way. Does anybody have any trust in John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, Pete Hegseth, Department of Defense, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Stephen Miller, to be making these plans? Donald Trump, we know, is busy taking cognitive dementia tests, so he can't be the one in charge. So I'm worried about it and the violation of the Colin Powell Doctrine, which is if you broke it, you bought it. Well, we broke Venezuela. What is the plan on day one after? No plan for Gaza after we gave the green light for Israel to attack after October 7th.
14:25Popok:We saw what happened there. No plan at all. No plan in any of these war-torn countries for the next day, you know. And that's what concerns me. We're going to continue to follow it. I'm glad you're here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. I'm running a sale on Legal AF Substack, 30 % off until the end of this weekend on paid membership. That's where independent journalism lives on Substack. Come join us there and join our Legal AF YouTube channel as well. Till my next report, I'm Michael Popak.
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From the publisher
Is “cocaine trafficking” and “machine gun trafficking” just a pretext to the recently “cognitively tested” Trump taking over Venezuela’s oil reserves and its formerly American oil company, Citgo? How do you square Trump pardoning Honduras’ president from a 45 year coke trafficking sentence for moving the most coke in the western hemisphere, with claiming regime change was necessary in Venezuela because of the cocaine trade? Popok looks closely at the Largest oil reserves in the world that are located in Venezuela, and the connections between Trump’s inner circle, Russia and Citgo. And who trusts the Trump Regime to have done the planning to lead to democracy being installed in Venezuela?
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