From the New York Times, I'm Natalie Kittrowef.

This is the Daily.

In the days since deposing Nicholas Maduro, President Trump has given several justifications for his dramatic action in Venezuela.

Number one, the drugs are pouring into the country, you know, that. Number two, the drugs are pouring into the country, you know that.

Number two, the people are pouring into the country were.

But the thing Trump is most focused on, the thing he keeps pointing to as central to his ambitions.

We're going to take back the oil that, frankly, we should have taken back a long time ago.

Is oil.

We're taking back what was taken from us.

They took our oil industry.

We built that entire oil industry.

Specifically, opening Venezuela's vast oil fields to American companies.

They stole our assets like we were babies.

And the United States said absolutely nothing about it, so now we're doing everything about it.

Today, my colleague Anatoly Kermaniev explains the history behind Trump's claim that this is our oil, and what it would really take to get it back.

Music and what it would really take to get it back. It's Tuesday, January 13th.

Anatoli, we're here today to talk to you about Trump's interest in Venezuela. January 13th.

Anatoly, we're here today to talk to you about Trump's interests in Venezuela and oil,

and the reason that we are again turning to you is that you, famously, for some of us,

former Latin America correspondents, spent nearly a decade in Venezuela covering the country when Maduro first came to power.

And you are a student of and our in-house expert on Venezuelan oil.

So welcome back to the show.

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