I'm so sorry. I know it's probably not me, but also maybe it is me. Every time we go on holiday break,

just craziness happens in the world. But with this being the first Philip DeFranco show of 2026,

we are now officially on our everyday grind. I will see you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,

Thursday, and starting next week, Friday. We have a lot to dive into and break down, starting

with this. Donald Trump attacked Venezuela, captured Maduro, and now wants American companies to take back the oil that he says was stolen from them. But even if Trump's finally being honest about what he's really after, he's still not telling the whole truth. Oh wow, the way that he's talking, it looks like this is just the start of a new era of American adventurism abroad. Now, of course, you know, especially if you watched a show last year, this isn't coming out of nowhere. There's been a lot of building up to this moment. For the Pentagon of mass troops, aircraft and warships in the Caribbean, US attacks killed at least 115 people on boats at the administration claimed without providing evidence where transporting drugs, and at the end of last month, it actually carried out a drone strike on a port facility in Venezuela itself.

And it turns out all the while there was a CIA team spending months in the country undetected, gathering intelligence about Maduro's movements. And that including help from a source in Maduro's government, and all of that leading to 10.30 p.m. last Friday, when Trump reportedly gave final approval from Mar-a-Lago for a mission. A mission were more than 150 military aircraft, including drones, fighter planes, and bombers took off from 20 different military bases and Navy ships. With them then, early Saturday morning, striking at radar and air defense batteries across Caracas, clearing the way for helicopters that carried Delta Force commandos right to Maduro's doorstep. And all of this, it went crazy fast. About five minutes after entering the building, they reported that they had Maduro and his wife in custody. And then by 4.29 a.m. local time, the pair were transferred to the USS Iwojima, which is an American warship that had been stationed about 100 miles off the coast to Venezuela. And this whole operation reportedly took just two hours and 20 minutes, killing at least 80 people, including civilians and soldiers, according to a Venezuelan official. And as far as Maduro, he's now being held in New York City, and he pled not guilty today to federal charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices, saying, I am innocent, I am a decent man, I am president. And with that, you've got the updated and unsealed indictment, alleging that he headed a corrupt, illegitimate government that for decades has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking. And this indictment also charges Maduro's wife, his son, two other high-ranking Venezuelan officials, and an alleged leader of Trend de Aragua. That gang of the Trump administration designated as a terrorist organization last year, and that Trump has also claimed worked hand in hand with Maduro's government, although notably, U.S. intelligence agencies have said otherwise.

Right, there is reportedly evidence that Maduro has benefited from the drug trade to stay in power, including by using profits from drug trafficking to secure the loyalty of military officials and leaders in his party.

But experts have said there's little evidence that Maduro or Venezuela had a role in the drug trade that directly contributed to overdose deaths in the United States. Fentanyl, which Donald Trump is always talking about, it's almost entirely produced in Mexico using chemicals from China, and Venezuela really plays no role in its trade. In fact, if you actually look into it, when you compare, Venezuela is not considered a major drug producer at all. Or with

experts often calling it a minor cocaine transit country, with most of the cocaine also flowing through it heading to Europe, not the United States. So one of the big things with that, what it points to is that this was really never about drugs. And I think we always kind of knew that. And even Trump, he's barely held up that charade. Right, Trump has made it very clear that his primary interest is oil. We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the

world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure,

and start making money for the country.

We're going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground, and that wealth

is going to the people of Venezuela and people from outside of Venezuela that used to be in

Venezuela. And it goes also to the United States of America.

So then with that, among the reactions, you had the likes of Democratic Senator Chris Murphy

saying.

The message that they sent was that this wasn't about regime change.

When they came to Congress and they literally lied to our face, they said, this is just

a counter-narcotics operation.

This seems to be mostly about oil and natural resources.

Donald Trump's entire foreign policy is corrupt.

Russia, the Middle East, and now Venezuela is all about making money for his friends.

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