Utah Sen. Mike Lee says Trump administration has briefed him that Maduro will face criminal charges in U.S.

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Yahoo! News/AP

Sat, January 3, 2026 at 5:48 AM EST


WASHINGTON (AP) — Utah Sen. Mike Lee says Trump administration has briefed him that Maduro will face criminal charges in U.S.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/utah-sen-mike-lee-says-104803529.html?guccounter=1

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Short article at post time. Nearly every story is a "live updates" including the Mike Lee AP story.

Link to tweet

Mike Lee
@BasedMikeLee
Just got off the phone with @SecRubio


He informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant

This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack

Thank you, @SecRubio, for keeping me apprised
Mike Lee
@BasedMikeLee
I look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force
5:16 AM · Jan 3, 2026

[Takket]

1. I would like to see this "arrest warrant"

Also curious what legal basis there is for an arrest warrant targeting a foreign head of state to be used to invade that state.

[travelingthrulife]

10. Law is dead in this country.

Anything the Madman says, goes.

Full blown dementia and the Republicans are letting him run wild.

[BootinUp]

2. Trump doesn't care about justifying anything. nt

[aka-chmeee]

15. He probably thinks he should get the 50M$ reward. nt

[mahina]

3. "Kinetic action" sounds like it is from a GI Joe ad

Also what the hell? None of that makes any sense.

[Vogon_Glory]

4. While I'm angry and disgusted by Donnie's latest action

(And I’m no fan of Maduro and the mess he and his predecessor made of the Venezuelan economy), I can’t help but wonder if those charges would stand up to the scrutiny of a judge and jury. Considering the crew running the Executive Branch, I doubt it.

[Wonder Why]

5. With Bondi prosecuting, he'll become a national hero - in this country.

[aka-chmeee]

14. First: Gotta have a show trial and conviction for the Gopers

Then, with precedent, He (Maduro) coughs up the jack for a "Trumpal Indulgence" to further the St. Jeffrey's Ballroom

[Farmer-Rick]

17. They'll do a kangaroo court with a dead body?

I suspect Maduro is dead.

I think that like Salvador Allende, the socialist elected president of Chile, Maduro is dead. They already completed their kangaroo court and gave him the death penalty. That's what you get for daring to think you can be an elected socialist leader in South America.

But put in a demented fascist pedophile in as president and all is well. Capitalism is all on board having a psychopath as president but a socialist oh my.

[EX500rider]

22. "think you can be an elected socialist leader" He was no such thing, lost the last election by 70%

Let me guess, you don't believe The Carter Center either?

https://www.cartercenter.org/stories/center-finds-democracy-thwarted-in-venezuela/

[Farmer-Rick]

24. Yeah, I don't trust them

The center endorsed the electoral process in the 2004 Venezuelan recall referendum.

They approved of that election but then backed down when others disagreed with them. I think the Carter center has been politicized. They were only allowed to observe a Georgia hand recount race in the US. Nothing else has been observed in the US. Why???

I think Maduro's election was as legitimate as pedo Trump's last election. Where was the Carter Center then? Why doesn't the US let them observe most elections?

[EX500rider]

25. They weren't the only ones

On 30 July, the Carter Center issued a harsh rebuke of the election authorities, stating there was a "complete lack of transparency" and that the election "cannot be considered democratic".

Fraud allegations

Anne Applebaum wrote in The Atlantic that it "was absolutely clear by [31 July] that ... the election had been stolen". Independent observers have described the election results as arbitrary, even by Venezuelan standards, according to The Guardian.

Political scientist Steven Levitsky called the vote "one of the most egregious electoral frauds in modern Latin American history."

Political scientist Dalson Figueiredo of the Federal University of Pernambuco, one of the authors of the AltaVista parallel vote tabulation project, stated: "After analyzing our own data, seeing the opposition's results and how they both match up, my conclusion is that we're witnessing the largest electoral fraud in the history of Latin America."

On his blog, mathematician Terence Tao pointed out that the election results had "oddly round percentages", suggesting that the election was fixed.


However:

Russia, China, Iran and North Korea recognized Nicolás Maduro as the winner. lol

[Farmer-Rick]

28. What year are you talking about?

I'm not sure what you are saying. You seem to have changed subjects.

They approved of the recall election that Maduro won but backed down when pressured by rich capitalists countries and politicians. So, why do they even bother to observe if they are going to back down anyway.

And again, aside from one tiny hand recount in Georgia what have they done to observe US presidential elections? So the Carter Center is good enough for observing other countries but not good enough to observe our own government, the country that developed the Carter Center.

[EX500rider]

29. Those quotes are all about the 2024 election in Venz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Venezuelan_presidential_election

Which is the subject, not the US elections.

[EX500rider]

27. Yes, nothing says "Popular President I would vote for" like 8 million Venez. refugees in other countries, right? lol

[Farmer-Rick]

30. This is not funny

People have died for what? For a pedo President who thinks he can bomb anyone he wants. And he didn't bomb them because Madoru was a bad president. He isn't going to give Venezuela any freedoms. He doesn't care if the vote in Venezuela was fair.

He's going to take their natural resources and make Venezuelans into practical slaves. He wants to give Donny Jr the Venezuelan oil and he wants a war to stay in as president for a 3rd term.

This is nothing but a political stunt. He bombed Chavez's tomb. You don't bomb dead men unless you are trying to send a message. And the message sure ain't free and fair elections no matter how the Carter Center white washes elections, or doesn't white wash them.

If Maduro isn't dead yet, he soon will commit suicide like Epstein.

[Katinfl]

6. At first Lee was skeptical about no authorization from Congress.

Then he talked to Rubio and fell right in line. Isn’t that usually the case?

[travelingthrulife]

8. All he had to say was, "Trump said so" and it would be good enough for the idiot

from Utah.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. He was an original teabagger when first elected

and primaried RW UT Sen. Bob Bennett back in 2010 much to everyone's shock. That prompted Orrin Hatch to eventually retire too, at the end of his 2012 term (replaced by RMoney).

He evolved into a Freedumb Caucuser, and finally a MAGat.

[travelingthrulife]

7. Anyone care to tell us what charges? What a colossal fuck up.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. He had been indicted back in 2020 (during the pandemic)

Nicolás Maduro Moros

Narcotics Rewards Program: Wanted

Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs

$50 MILLION REWARD

August 7, 2025

(snip)

In March 2020, Maduro was charged in the Southern District of New York for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

After initially offering a reward offer of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro in 2020, the Department of State on January 10, 2025, increased the reward offer to up to $25 million. On August 7, 2025, the Department announced the further increase in the reward offer to up to $50 million after the Department of Treasury sanctioned Cartel of the Suns as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on July 25, 2025. As leader of Cartel of the Suns, Maduro is the first target in the history of the Narcotics Rewards Program with a reward offer exceeding $25 million.

PLENTY of mercenaries out there looking for $$$ (if they ever actually see a dime of it).

[Farmer-Rick]

18. What a load of crap

Maybe we can get pedo Trump indicated in Iran and post bullshit like this.

[Skittles]

33. oh come on

Trump doesn't give a FUCK about drugs coming from Venezuela, THAT WAS THEIR COVER STORY (you know, like IRAQ WMDs)

[GreenWave]

11. His crime is: Not giving Trump ownership of the oil fields.

[Farmer-Rick]

20. His crime: not kissing up to a pedo

Not embracing corporate capitalism; not bowing down to a demented psychopath.

[BradBo]

13. Then what Trump will pardon him? Impeachment time.

[Farmer-Rick]

19. When pedo Trump installs Machado

She will ensure that Maduro is dead. Just like Pinochet ensured Salvador Allende was dead......with a lot of help from the US.

This war against Venezuela is simply a political stunt. You know that pedo Trump was really doing this for political reasons and not fighting against drug running because they dropped bombs on Chavez's mausoleum. Why bomb a dead man unless you are sending a message.

[GiqueCee]

16. Article II?

What a crock of shit. The only reason US personnel would be in imminent danger is because they were following a grossly illegal order given by a raging lunatic with the moral compass of a rabid hyena. This is going to be bad, and should be Trump's total undoing. He is an out-of-control psychopath. Oh yeah, AND a fucking traitor.

If the ICC had any balls at all, there would be an arrest warrant issued for this evil POS.

[bluestarone]

21. Hell, i'm 100% sure russia was informed, but not

Congress!

[Firestorm49]

23. So help me understand. Trump, just weeks ago, pardoned a guy who ran a $400 million dollar drug cartel.

And now the United States of America kidnapped an admittedly corrupt politician for allegedly and probably rightly so, running drugs.The hypocrisy is overwhelming. The humor in all of these cheap theatrics is that the entire country knows that it’s not about drugs at all, it’s about oil. Boy, they sure are slick.

I wouldn’t be surprised if eventually Maduro ends up with an Ambassadorship in the administration somewhere nice and warm.

[Dan]

26. Please articulate the 'actual or imminent attack' information.

[oasis]

31. FML. That's all.

[thought crime]

32. Mike Lee trying to sound like an Insider.

He even knows the term "kinetic action", which he probably learned from some friendly Oath Keeper.

What a Worm.