curated news excerpts & citations
Al Jazeera: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro ‘captured’ after huge US military strikes
US says Venezuelan president will face drug-related charges in New York as Caracas decries Nicolas Maduro’s capture.
(Al Jazeera more…)
Al Jazeera: US lawmakers react to attack on Venezuela, ‘capture’ of Nicolas Maduro
Sarah Burns: … Trump’s attack on Venezuela reflects Congress surrendering its decision-making powers
… This is regime change, and whether or not it has a positive impact on the United States, whether or not it has a positive impact on Venezuela, I think the likelihood is very low for both of those things being true.
Telegraph: Removing Maduro was the easy part. Trump’s true test will come next
Many Venezuelans will rejoice at the ousting of the dictator, but history cautions that regime change is never as simple as it may seem
Fox News: House GOP critics break with Trump over Venezuela operation that captured Maduro
… [Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb] “My main concern now is that Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan,” Bacon said in a statement.
MS Now: Secret memo, public strikes: Trump’s Venezuela gambit tests war powers
The administration is citing a Department of Justice opinion to justify the strikes, but keeping it classified — fueling a new war powers showdown.
Fred Wellman: The silence of the Republican Congress has led us to this moment and it won’t end until they are replaced
NewsNation: View around the world: Leaders react to US action in Venezuela
NY Times: Trump’s Attack on Venezuela Is Illegal and Unwise
… Mr. Trump has not yet offered a coherent explanation for his actions in Venezuela. He is pushing our country toward an international crisis without valid reasons. If Mr. Trump wants to argue otherwise, the Constitution spells out what he must do: Go to Congress. Without congressional approval, his actions violate U.S. law.
Jennifer Rubin: Headfirst Into War
[Sen. Mark R. Warner] … “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? Once this line is crossed, the rules that restrain global chaos begin to collapse, and authoritarian regimes will be the first to exploit it.”
People’s World: U.S. attack on Venezuela is kidnapping and an act of war
NPR: Maduro’s ouster on drug charges comes as Trump lets others free
… the stunning military action comes at a time when Trump has also freed or pardoned other convicted drug dealers and people accused of ties to drug gangs and cartels – notably the former president of Honduras.
Morgaan Sinclair, Ph.D.: This is about oil, not drugs.
and this is about drowning out the headlines about the Epstein files.
Sarah Jones & Jason Easley: Trump’s military takeover of Venezuela appears to be all about the oil with no thought about the country itself. Trump’s international thug move will be a disaster for the United States.
Robert Reich: Thug World
A new world order?
Dean Obeidallah: Trump should not just be impeached—he must be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court!
Brian Allen: U.S. Strikes Oust Maduro in Venezuela: “Running” the Country and an Oil Takeover
Steven Beschloss: A Deeply Appalling Press Conference
… Trump plans to “run” Venezuela and does not pretend he cares about anything beyond taking the oil.
Terrence Goggin: Trump appears to support the continuation of the Maduro regime’s Vice President in power pending an election; that portends civil war.
ReligiousLiberty.TV: Extraction Without Process: Venezuela’s Fall and the Return of Resource Politics
Lucian K. Truscott IV: Prosecuting Presidents
Donald Trump says it’s okay to arrest and prosecute foreign presidents, but according to his Supreme Court, it’s not okay to arrest and prosecute an American president.
That makes about as much sense as electing Trump president.
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – January 3, 2026
Today was the legal deadline for the Department of Justice to submit to Congress a written justification for any documents from the Epstein files that the department had redacted or withheld. But it seems unlikely the Justice Department met this deadline because it has missed the December 19 deadline for releasing the files themselves. Both of those deadlines were established by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed overwhelmingly by Congress on November 19, 2025.
…Trump has taken a hit on his domestic policy lately, as well. After the Supreme Court on December 23, 2025, rejected the administration’s argument that it had the power to deploy federalized National Guard troops in and around Chicago, Trump announced on December 31 that the administration is removing National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland. …
…And then, on New Year’s Eve, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee released a 255-page transcript of former special counsel Jack Smith’s December 17 closed-door testimony before the committee. …
…It is against this backdrop that the Trump administration launched a strike against Venezuela in the early hours of Saturday, January 3. …
…By afternoon, though, the triumphal story seemed to be sagging.
The New York Times reported that at least 40 civilians and military personnel were killed in the attack, which hit a three-story apartment building.
Although Trump told reporters that Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodríguez had been sworn into the presidency and that she seemed willing to work with the U.S. “to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Rodríguez insisted in a televised address to Venezuelans today that Maduro is the rightful president of Venezuela and must be released, and said the U.S. had “launched an unprecedented military aggression.” “If there is one thing that the Venezuelan people and this country are clear about,” she said, “it is that we will never again be slaves, that we will never again be a colony of any empire, whatever its nature.”
Ben Lefebvre, Zack Colman, and James Bikales of Politico reported that oil companies are leery of Trump’s plan that they will invest billions of dollars in rebuilding Venezuela’s oil industry. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)Politico: Trump admin sends tough private message to oil companies on Venezuela
…
“Will the U.S. be able to attract U.S. oilfield services to go to Venezuela?” the executive asked. “Maybe. It would have to involve the services companies being able to contract directly with the U.S. government.”
(Politico more…)
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Bill McKibben: Just possibly it’s the oil?
A solar panel is the new peace sign
…(I think we can take it for granted that the stated charges from the attorney general this morning are not the reasons, since pretty much everyone agrees that that Venezuela is not a big drug exporter to the US and the president just pardoned the president of Honduras who actually was a serious pusher. Oh, and “Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns” is something we now encourage for Americans.)
( more…)
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Rebecca Solnit: Five Facets of the Attack on Venezuela by the Rogue Nation the US Has Become
- They are saying it baldly: this is an oil grab.
- The carnage associated with fossil fuel is why speeding the transition to renewables is good for international stability as well as everything else.
- This destabilizes both the rule of law and separation of powers at home and the global order, such as it is.
- This is serious and important and we must pay attention to it. But we must not lose sight of what the Trump Administration would love us to lose sight of: a wildly unpopular president doing his utmost to harm the people of this country and enrich himself, his family, and his cronies while in rapid mental and physical decline and in an ongoing panic over what the Epstein files could tell us about him.
- Peace means many things, and it exists or is sabotaged at many levels.
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Wired: The US Invaded Venezuela and Captured Nicolás Maduro. ChatGPT Disagrees
…
It has been a stunning series of events, with unknown repercussions for the global world order. If you asked ChatGPT about it this morning, it told you that you’re making it up.
(Wired more…)
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Joyce Vance: Maduro & Venezuela: What Happens Next
2019 Fiona Hill House of Representatives deposition
(Fiona Hill more…)Al Jazeera: What is the Monroe Doctrine, which Trump has cited over Venezuela?
Accountability Initiative ICE List
GriftMatrix
Trump Action Tracker
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties
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