Trump Extracts Oil -- And The Venezuelan President

What A Day

News, Daily News

4.6 • 12.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2026

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Late Friday evening, President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. After his capture, Maduro was taken by warship to the United States and then flown to New York, where he will face federal drug trafficking and weapons charges. There are a ton of questions around how this operation happened and what, if any, legal authority the United States had to capture Maduro in the first place. But most importantly: what happens to Venezuela now? To talk more about Venezuela, the prosecution of Maduro, and what the hell is going to happen now, we spoke to Juan Sebastian Gonzalez, former National Security Council Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere under the Biden administration.

And in headlines, most Republicans are defending Trump's decision to topple Maduro, Marjorie Taylor Greene continues to criticize the president on her way out of Congress, and world leaders are meeting in Paris to discuss the Russia-Ukraine peace process.

Show Notes:

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Monday, January 5th. Happy New Year.
0:06.0	I'm Jane Koston, and this is what a day.
0:07.8	The show wondering if Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has any thoughts on President Donald Trump's recent adventures in Venezuela, given her comments back in October.
0:17.7	For decades, our foreign policy has been trapped in a counterproductive and endless
0:23.4	cycle of regime change or nation building. Maybe this regime change incident is different this time
0:31.9	for reasons.
0:47.5	On today's show, Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Green resigns from Congress after a career that played out like a Greek tragedy, or
0:51.1	comedy, depending on how you look at it.
0:54.0	And the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed mayor of New York,
0:56.6	Zeran Mamdani, chastised his President Trump for his actions in Venezuela.
1:00.6	He's also probably not super stoked that the newest resident of Brooklyn is
1:04.8	Venezuelan president, Nicholas Maduro.
1:07.7	Let's start there, with formerish Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro. Yes, I know. A lot
1:14.2	happened while we were away on break. But it's essential to begin with the biggest news of the year so far,
1:19.7	the capture of Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, who were brought to the
1:25.0	United States over the weekend. Here's Secretary of State,
1:27.8	Marco Rubio, on CBS's Face Nation Sunday. We arrested a narco-trafficker who's now going to stand trial
1:34.0	in the United States where the crimes he's committed against our people for 15 years. And the person
1:39.0	who helped him, of course, his wife, who was co-located with him, so she was arrested as well.
1:42.6	That's what happened here.
1:48.9	After months of attacking alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean, President Trump ordered the operation late Friday evening. According to the New York Times, it took less than three hours,
1:53.8	during which at least 80 people, including Venezuelan troops and civilians were killed. After his
	...

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