Trump says Nicolas Maduro aboard USS Iwo Jima, headed to New York to face charges
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump said on Saturday, January 3, that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were being transported to the United States aboard the USS Iwo Jima, en route to New York to face criminal charges.
“Yes, the Iwo Jima, they’re on a ship,” Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News.
“They’ll be heading into New York. The helicopters took them out, and they went by helicopter in a nice flight. I’m sure they loved it. But they’ve, they’ve killed a lot of people, remember that,” he added.
Trump said that he personally spoke with Maduro about a week ago and made clear that surrender was the only option.
“Well, basically I said, you have to give up. You have to surrender,” Trump said, calling the operation a powerful symbol of US resolve.
Brooklyn facility could hold Nicolas Maduro pending trial
While US officials have not confirmed where Maduro will be held pending trial, the charges, filed in New York, allow authorities to detain him in a high-security federal facility in Brooklyn.
The Metropolitan Detention Center has previously housed some of the world’s most high-profile defendants, including Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Ghislaine Maxwell, R Kelly, Sam Bankman-Fried and, briefly, Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Special measures were taken to hold Guzmán, who had a history of dramatic prison escapes in Mexico.
The Brooklyn jail is now the only federal detention facility serving New York City after the Bureau of Prisons closed its Manhattan complex following Jeffrey Epstein’s death, an episode that brought intense scrutiny to federal detention practices.
Still, officials have not indicated whether the US will ultimately hold a sitting foreign head of state in such a densely populated area, given the significant security and diplomatic risks involved.
Nicolas Maduro and family accused of corruption
The US Department of Justice on Saturday unsealed a new indictment charging Maduro, his wife, and his son with d**g t******king and weapons-related offenses.
According to prosecutors, Maduro and his inner circle “turned Venezuelan institutions into a hotbed of corruption for their own benefit.”
The indictment alleges that the corruption enriched Venezuelan officials and their families while empowering violent n***o-t****rist groups that produce and transport tons of c***ine into the United States.
Meanwhile, the United Nations responded with alarm to the US military action in Venezuela. Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said that he was “deeply alarmed” by the developments and warned of troubling implications for the region.
“Independently of the situation in Venezuela, these developments constitute a dangerous precedent,” said Dujarric.
“The Secretary General continues to emphasize the importance of full respect by all of international law, including the UN Charter,” he added.
