Trump Gives Unhinged Interview After Venezuela Invasion

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1:23Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump just gave a completely deranged interview with Fox about the United States invasion of Venezuela. Donald Trump saying this was about taking their oil. And he says that even though China had special envoys in Venezuela, it doesn't matter because the United States is going to figure out how to deal with the oil. We're learning more information about the United States invasion and what happened with Maduro and Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores. So Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, according to Natasha Bertrand, they were dragged from their bedroom by US forces, by Delta Force, special forces during the raid that led to their capture.

2:08Ben Meiselas:They were put aboard the U.S. ship the Iwo Jima, where they are now heading to New York. An indictment has been filed against them by the United States Department of Justice. More on that in a moment. But Donald Trump is asked about the future of Venezuela and their oil industry. And Donald Trump says, we're going to be strongly involved now in the Venezuelan oil industry. Here, play this clip. The countries that negotiate with Venezuela, for those that illegal oil, are already starting to suffer. What do you see as the future of Venezuela's oil industry? Well, I see that we're going to be very strongly involved in it.

2:54That's all. I mean, what can I say? We have the greatest oil companies in the world, the biggest, the greatest. And we're going to be very much involved in it. We can't do something like this. And we're prepared. You know, we were prepared to do a second wave. We were all set. And very, this was so lethal. This was so powerful that we didn't have to. But we're prepared. We're out there with an armada like nobody's ever seen before. And we're prepared. And we're prepared. And frankly, probably thought we were going to have to do it. But we were prepared for a second wave going in.

3:29Ben Meiselas:And when Donald Trump is asked about the Chinese envoys who were in Venezuela, apparently at the time this raid was conducted, this invasion was conducted. Donald Trump says they're not going to be a problem. They'll get oil. Here play this clip. Mr. President, what do you make of the fact that just hours before the airstrike, there was a Chinese delegation meeting with Nicolas Maduro, And we have yet to hear from China any sort of comment on the attacks. I know nothing about that, but I have a very good relationship with President Xi, and there's not going to be a problem. And they're going to get oil.

4:09We're going to allow people to have oil. But we can't take a chance, after having done this incredible thing last night, of letting somebody else take over where we have to do it again. We can do it again, too. Nobody can stop us. There's nobody that has the capability that we have. You know, when I watch that war in Russia going on and on and on and everybody dying, it's like it's primitive. It's primitive. It's horrible.

4:37Ben Meiselas:Could you tell us, Mr. President? I'll play you some clips in a little bit as well where Donald Trump threatens Mexico and says Mexico may be next. But here Donald Trump describes the invasion of Venezuela as being like a TV show, He says he goes, I watched it like I would watch the TV show. And it was amazing. The speed, the violence. Here's what he says here. Play this clip. So you've had quite a busy evening. Tell us about it. It was slightly busy, I would say. It was very dark all over, especially in Venezuela. The team did an incredible job. They rehearsed and practiced like nobody's ever seen.

5:20And I was told, and I was told by real military people that there's no other country on Earth that could do such a maneuver. If you would have seen what happened, I mean, I watched it literally like I was watching a television show. And if you would have seen the speed, the violence, you know, they say that, the speed, the violence, they use that term. It's just, it was an amazing thing, an amazing job that these...

5:47Ben Meiselas:He claims that no Americans were killed in this operation, although he says Americans were injured, he believes. A few guys were hit, and he believes maybe a helicopter was hit as well. Here, play this clip right here. You know, that we had nobody killed was amazing. I think we had nobody killed, I have to say, because a couple of guys were hit, but they came back and they're supposed to be in pretty good shape. but that we had nobody killed, that we lost no aircraft. You know, everything came back. We got it all back. One of them was hit pretty hard, but a helicopter, but we got it back. But it just was the right time to do it.

6:27We had to do it because it's a war. We're losing 300 ,000 people.

6:32Ben Meiselas:And it does seem that there are civilian casualties in Venezuela. I want to get an accurate report on what that is, but there does seem to be fatalities in Venezuela. Donald Trump then attacks Democrats and says that they should say, gee, great job. Great job. Why are they saying, oh, this may not be constitutional? You know, it's the same old stuff that they keep on talking about. They should not be telling me that what I did was not constitutional and just say, thank you. Here, play this clip. The Democrats, maybe they'll take a shot. You know, they'll take a shot. All they do is complain. They don't talk about, they should say, you know what?

7:11We did a great job. We're stopping drugs from coming into this country. And nobody's been able to do it until we came along. But they should say, great job. They shouldn't say, oh, gee, maybe it's not constitutional. You know, the same old stuff that we've been hearing for years and years and years.

7:29Ben Meiselas:While this is taking place as well, you have J.D. Vance saying that the reason for this invasion of Venezuela was oil. J.D. Vance writes, the president offered multiple off ramps, but was very clear throughout this process, the drug trafficking must stop and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States. Maduro is the newest person to find out that Trump means what he says. Kudos to our special operators who pulled off a truly impressive operation. Just notice the language to a special operation to seize back the oil they stole. It sounds very Putin-esque right there. We're also getting a statement right now from Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intel Committee, who was not briefed about this.

8:18Ben Meiselas:The Senate, the House were not briefed. This was entirely unconstitutional. Senator Warner said the following, our constitution places the gravest decisions about the use of military force in the hands of Congress for a reason using military force to enact regime change demands the closest scrutiny precisely because the consequences do not end with the initial strike. If the United States asserts the right to use military force to invade and capture foreign leaders, it accuses of criminal conduct. What prevents China from claiming the same authority over Taiwan's leadership? What stops Vladimir Putin from asserting similar justification to abduct Ukraine's president?

8:57Ben Meiselas:Once this line is crossed, the rule that restrains global chaos begin to collapse and authoritarian regimes will be the first to exploit it. None of this absolves Maduro. He's a corrupt authoritarian who has repressed his people, stolen elections and imprisoned political opponents and presided over humanitarian catastrophe that has forced millions of Venezuelans to flee. The Venezuelan people deserve democratic leadership and the United States and the international community should have done far more years ago to press for a peaceful transition after Maduro lost a vote of his own citizens. But recognizing Maduro's crimes does not give any president the authority to ignore the Constitution.

9:38Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump, going back to his deranged interview with Fox, Donald Trump says regarding Delta Force, you couldn't hold them back. They were so excited to do this invasion. Here, play this clip right here. Think about it and you almost couldn't hold them back it was like they wanted to go so badly and most people would have said i'll take a pass i know that charlie would have wanted to go because charlie's a very brave person i know a lot of other people would have said i think i'll pass on this one let's let's watch it on television so it's been uh it's been amazing to see to see how good they were how professional they were how how incredible the equipment we have is i mean meanwhile it should also be noted that Diasdado Cabello, the minister of the interior, who's, as Thomas von Lynch describes, the Maduro regime's enforcer, has now appeared in public.

10:34Ben Meiselas:Cabello has appeared in public showing any reports about his death or capture were false. He's the real kind of enforcer behind this regime and the Venezuelan regime appointees, the governors of the various states, Bolivar, Iroqui, Tachira, and others have all come out with statements saying that they're still in control. And even with Maduro being gone, they're controlling their territories. These Maduro appointed governors said that they're in firmly control over their respective states. And with D.S. Dado and the defense minister as well, still saying that that they are in charge and they are in power.

11:18Ben Meiselas:You have lines forming. Thomas Van Lynch is doing great reporting here. Lines are forming outside of the grocery stores in several neighborhoods of Caracas, like Los Palos Grandes in the east as Venezuelans are stocking up on food now for the tense days ahead. Back to this deranged Fox interview. Here's where Donald Trump threatens to attack Mexico next. And he's like, Claudia Scheinbaum, you could be next. Here, play this clip. Good woman, but the cartels are running Mexico. She's not running Mexico. The cartels are running Mexico. And we could be politically correct and be nice and say, oh, yes, she is.

11:54No, no, she's very, you know, she's very frightened of the cartels. They're running Mexico. And I've asked her numerous times, would you like us to take out the cartels no no no mr president no no no please so we have to do something because we lost the real number is 300 000 people in my opinion you know they like to say 100 000 100 000 is a lot of people but the real number is 300 000 people and we lost it to drugs and they come in through the southern border mostly the southern border a lot plenty come in through canada too by the way in case you don't know but but they come in through the southern border and something's going to have to be done with Mexico.

12:37Ben Meiselas:Trump is asked if he'll throw his support around opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. And Donald Trump then says, well, there's a vice president right now in Venezuela and Delce Rodriguez. And Donald Trump doesn't know her name, though. And then Donald Trump says, starts attacking the 2020 election. And he says the election was rigged. And that's how Maduro won. And Biden's election with the election was rigged. That's how Biden beat me. So Maduro got into power the way Biden beat me in the election. And then Trump spreading lies about the 2020 election. Here, play this clip. Are you going to fully support her to take over to run the country?

13:20Well, we're going to have to look at it right now. They have a vice president, as you know. I mean, I don't know about what kind of an election that was, but, you know, the election of Maduro was a disgrace, just like my election was a disgrace. 2020 was a disgrace and, you know, a real disgrace. Now, 2024 was too big to rig. But what he did was, I mean, his was open. I would say, frankly, you want to know the truth? I think Charlie would testify this. It wasn't a hell of a lot worse than what they did to us in 2020. It was our election was a disgrace in 2020.

13:57Ben Meiselas:Then Donald Trump makes a joke while speaking with the Fox and Friends morning show about all of this. When they ask him, what did you decide to do this morning? And Donald Trump's like, ha ha ha. You mean give you a call? Here play this clip. Why did you decide to do this this morning? Are you talking about calling you people or? or the shot. No, taking out Maduro. I'm not sure which is, I'm not sure which is worse, if you want to know the truth. Trump then attacks Democratic Congress member Jim McGovern. Let me share this with you. You're already getting reaction from members of Congress on both sides.

14:37Ben Meiselas:One Democrat, Jim McGovern, is saying that you did not get authorization from Congress. And he says Trump just launched an unjustified illegal strike on Venezuela. lot. Where did you get your reaction to that? Well, look, these are weak, stupid people, and they're trying to save themselves from almost destroying our country. If I didn't get elected, our country would not. I don't even think we'd have a country right now. We were heading down. We were heading down the path of destruction. We had inflation. We had high prices. They're the ones that caused high prices, not us. We're bringing the prices way down.

15:13We have oil now in many places, a dollar ninety nine a gallon. And, you know, when you do oil everything follows but everything is following but no they would have destroyed our country if we didn't get elected if kamala or a joe type got elected that group got elected but if kamala got elected i don't think at this point we would even have a country we're left at all over the world we were the money was flowing out everybody was leaving the companies were leaving, the people were leaving, the wealth was leaving. We have$18 trillion coming back into our country, the biggest number in the history of the world.

15:54Ben Meiselas:And then Donald Trump starts saying that one of the reasons that America invaded Venezuela is that they emptied out mental institutions and mental asylums into the United States because Donald Trump doesn't know the difference between insane asylums and immigration, political asylum. Here, play this clip well but look uh tremendous numbers of people were being killed through drugs and what they did to our country in sending uh prisoners and mental people from mental institutions and uh drug lords and everything they sent him by the hundreds of thousands of people into our country and that is just unforgivable that's why you know he wanted to negotiate at the end and i didn't want to negotiate i said nope we got to do it you know he was trying to negotiate at the end you probably saw that and uh trying hard to make a deal and i said and you know this could have been a very foolish thing if it didn't work out but i said nope we can't do it what he did with drugs is bad what he did with a lot of other things is bad but what he did was sending hundreds of thousands of trend de aragua and drug dealers and they emptied out their jails into our country they emptied out, if you think about it, they emptied out all of their mental institutions into our country.

17:14What he did there and every other thing is unforgivable.

17:20Ben Meiselas:So when people from Venezuela seek political asylum, Donald Trump believes that they are seeking meant that they're from mental institutes and they're going that they're getting mental asylum. Trump also says that the raid, the invasion of Venezuela was planned four days ago, but because of whether the dates had to be changed here. Play this clip right here. So we were going to do this four days ago, but the weather was not perfect. The weather has to be perfect. And we had just the perfect weather. We had, you know, very good. A little bit of a little bit more clouds than we thought, but it was good.

17:56We waited four days. We were going to do this four days ago, three days ago, two days ago. And then all of a sudden it opened up and we said, go.

18:07Ben Meiselas:Trump refers to the other one that we did as the attack on Iran. Here, play this clip from, from, uh, earlier in the year, play this clip. We did another one not so long ago. It was called the knocking out of the, uh, Iranian nuclear threat, the nuclear power. And that was, that was unbelievable what they did there. And this is something that, gee, I don't know, it's amazing. And to have a few injuries, but no death on our side is really amazing. Then Donald Trump keeps talking about how, like, the military had to get through the steel doors. Anyway, here, play this clip. It broke in and they broke into places that were not really able to be broke into, you know, steel doors that was, were put there for just this reason, and they got taken out in a matter of seconds.

19:02I've never seen anything like it.

19:04Ben Meiselas:And you were able to watch this in real time. Yeah, don't forget, I've done some pretty good ones in other parts of the world. Okay, I've done some pretty good ones, but I've never seen anything like this. I was, I was able to watch it in real time, and I watched every aspect. We have a copy of the indictment right now. We'll share, This is the indictment from Pam Bondi that has been unsealed. The United States of America verse Nicholas Maduro. You see right there, Celia Flores, her wife. Notably, you know, you'll see on the indictment as well. They the United States indicts Diasdado Cabello Rondon.

19:42Ben Meiselas:That's the guy I was telling you about the enforcer who has not been captured at this point. Hector Rutherford, Guerra Flores as well, being indicted in this by the Department of Justice from the Southern District of New York, Southern District of New York, also where the Epstein prosecution took place. That's where Trump said he just discovered the 1.2 million Epstein records as well. We're getting statement from the foreign minister of France, Jean-Noël Barat, The military operation that led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro contravenes the principles of the non-use of force that underpins international law.

20:27Ben Meiselas:That's what French Foreign Minister Jean Baron is saying. And then I think we're getting statements from Pam Bondi as well, saying that Nicolas Maduro is being charged with narco-terrorism and he's being charged with weapons possession. and things. We'll keep you posted every step of the way. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

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