The same day Katie did this, Trump said they need Greenland for security reasons. The latter is more problematic but given that both Katie & Trump are largely parrots of what they hear, both are likely telling us what Stephen Miller is saying.

Thought it would be a good time to check in on this case: Marco Rubio buddy David Rivera, who was indicted 3 years ago for attempting to broker a deal for Maduro. www.politico.com/news/2022/12...

It's official. DOJ has officially stalled Colleen Kollar-Kotelly through the opening date of the Aileen Cannon grand conspiracy grand jury. Note sure I have ever seen a bigger waste of solid legal effort.

I think one way to do this is to insist that Tom Cotton, who DID get advance notice (I'm not even sure Thune did) is personally responsible for Americans who've been wounded and anything that goes haywire.

Reupping these posts. The indictment against Maduro is designed to serve several purposes. One is to get legal sanction (in form of probable cause finding from GJ) for Stephen Miller's debunked claim that Venezuela = TdA. He will presumably now try using it to mass deport again.

1. Regionally, people are desperate for solutions to the crime and poverty they face. This explains why despite all the crimes against humanity he has committed, Bukele remains popular in El Salvador, but also across the region, and why so many right-wing populists are modeling themselves after him.

I wrote this only last week, after saying that Trump seems about to wage war on Venezuela. It seems pretty relevant to what transpired today. UK and Europe *must* reduce our dependence on America and its technologies as rapidly as we can. christinapagel.substack.com/p/personal-r...

Wrote this before yesterday but it gets at what undergirds that (and lots of other things in politics). "The internet universalized subjectivity instead of objectivity. … We have reverted from acting on what we *know* to acting on what we *think*."

"This indictment was designed, from the start, to rely on illegitimate claims about the lawful president in Venezuela. It had puppet power built into it." @emptywheel.bsky.social www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/04/d...

A comment on the inclusion of machine gun charges in the Maduro indictment. I laughed and I do think it ridiculous that DOJ included it even while DOJ is suing DC to force it to accept semi-automatic weapons. It's a traditional charge designed to up sentences.

Another point I made in this post comparing the 2020 and 2025 Maduro indictments is that Tren de Aragua is added (including its head as co-conspirator), but his inclusion is really thin. Effectively DOJ used indictment to ham-sandwich TdA claim IC disavowed. www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/04/d...

Is it me or is there no date on the indictment released yesterday? Thus far there's no arrest warrant shown, and SDNY is weeks behind on public news releases. Did they have this in advance of the operation? How far in advance? If they did not, on what authority did they arrest Maduro's wife?

One point I made in this post is that Diosdado Cabello, currently Venezuela's interior minister and one of the key players in the trafficking, remains in the newly unsealed indictment. He was the first person to condemn the invasion yesterday. www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/04/d...

The news that NYT and WaPo knew of the invasion before it happened and the fact that Greasy Pete and others were watching Xitter as the investigation went down suggests that right wing trolls may also have learned of the attack and they were monitoring to see if they were publishing.

And this was always cited by people who excuse their asymmetric treatment of Biden's and Trump's age. "Oh, Trump talks to the press all the time," they said, as if that was proof Trump still had his wits. Which, of course, required not talking too much about Trump no longer having his wits.

Two potentially significant differences between 2020 & 2025 indictments against Maduro: the inclusion of Sinaloa, Zetas, and (especially) Tren de Aragua in the narco-trafficking charge, and DOJ's silence about those who DO have claim to legitimacy in Venezuela. www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/04/d...

DOJ's Politically Illegitimate Basis for Political Illegitimacy in Nicolás Maduro Indictment www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/04/d...

A nuclear-armed U.S. under full totalitarian control is an existential threat to billions of people. To life on this planet. It's up to us, U.S. citizens living here in the imperial core, to stop it. Nobody is coming to save us. Not the U.N., not the ICJ. It's us or it's nobody.

Those surprised that Trump threatened Mexico along with Cuba and Colombia today should read this superlong NYT story on it... www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/u... Or my gloss www.emptywheel.net/2025/12/28/b...

I double dog dare @normeisen.bsky.social to file a lawsuit arguing that the leader of Venezuela (which we've been told is Marco Rubio) cannot also, ethically, run NARA.

Very important signal here. You can say it's abt oil. And part of it is. But the White House is actually being forced to strongarm the oil companies to get involved. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...

This is a SUPER preliminary comparison of the 2020 versus 2025 indictments against Maduro. Same four crimes, different co-conspirators (Carvajal-Barrios pled last June), with Maduro's wife and son added for this one. Some common overt acts, but not all are. Focus shifts from CdS to TdS.

A system which cannot impose consequences for the most egregious breaches (stealing everything, trying to violently overturn an election) is a system which incentivises its own destruction.

New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

Stephen Miller has not been jailed for those lies. But two different judges ruled that Trump was lying abt Kilmar Abgrego. And that’s just for starters.

The US produces >13 mn barrels of oil per day. Venezuela produces <1 million bpd There's a global oil glut i.e. lower prices. That's bad for US producers, who need higher prices to break even. Hard to imagine they're eager to make big new investments in an unstable place w/ decrepit infrastructure

People remember the govt shuts down on Jan 30 if it doesn’t get funded, right?

You need to first make it clear you can hold MoCs accountable before you move to impeach.

The hedgies seem to believe there is or shortly will be something called a government in VZ, and that it'll be safe for them to travel there in March. It's almost like the hedgies knew more about this invasion than Congress. www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

My quick take on the legality of the Venezuela invasion. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...

This is a good statement -- bc it gets you where you need to be wrt the OTHER constitutional issues (not least bc THIS SCOTUS would not rule against Trump but Gorsuch IS on recent record that Congress can't hand off its war-declaring power to POTUS.

My quick takes on the Maduro op, plus some exciting speakers coming to my Substack this year! open.substack.com/pub/asharang...

Why are people assuming US troops and not Eric Prince employees will enforce US order in Venezuela?

I think it's the stance of the Trump DOJ that one can have semi-automatic weapons in DC but not machine guns in other countries.

Thinking of this exchange from the tariff case argument. www.supremecourt.gov/oral_argumen...

MTG has opinions. [So does Tom Massie -- he seems to have noted that the indictment doesn't mention fentanyl.]

In the Maduro capture operation, the Trump administration relies on Bill Barr’s (discredited) 1989 memo claiming a President can disregard the UN Charter (CNN report). That is a loaded gun. The legal analysis is utterly flawed. My assessment just published: www.justsecurity.org/127962/madur...

DOJ can't even manage the Maduro docket competently but I'm sure all else will go swimmingly.

Caine is bragging about how only the greatest-ever fighter pilots could have handled this mission against Venezuela’s [checks inventory] 16-plane-strong offensive air capacity.

Caine says US intelligence studied what Maduro did, where he lived, what he ate, etc to specify how he should be captured. Also, he started explaining the prep by stating: “since we could be asked to do this again”

I’d still be mad if he did that after talking to congress, ngl

“Trump cares more about running another country than this one. He’s spending money on them, not your health care.”

In 2020, when Bill Barr attempted to set up this VZ invasion, the indictment specifically named Guaido as democratically elected, even though it was not as legitimate as last year's. In 2025, Trump is not naming who was democratically elected. 👀

The House Armed Services Committee also was not briefed, I've confirmed.

Once again, one of the primary reasons we have arrived at this point (completely out-of-control & unconstitutional abuse of executive power to conduct wildly illegal foreign policy) is that no one, including the most senior people involved, went to jail for the rest of their lives for Iran-Contra.

Republican leaders were briefed. Democratic leaders were not. This is the Trump approach.

This, from @rgoodlaw.bsky.social in 2019, is important background to the congressional discussion we're about to see. www.justsecurity.org/63635/barrs-...

Important distinction. Trump will say he relied on the 1989 Noriega precedent, and he's not wrong. But as @andykimnj.bsky.social has been saying, just weeks ago Rubio and Hegseth said this was not about regime change. It's not clear Gang of Eight was consulted.

Note how much the original 2020 indictment of Maduro focused on Guaído. I'm sure they updated it, but did they put Machado or González in where Guadió was listed? storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...