Classified CIA intel reveals President Donald Trump is backing Nicolás Maduro's Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to lead Venezuela, snubbing Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, according to a new report.
The spy agency assessed that Rodríguez, along with hardline Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, could best maintain stability if the strongman lost power, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Trump got the briefing and made his controversial call.
The move shocked Machado's camp. Just months ago, Trump praised her, saying she "peacefully expressing the voices and the WILL of the Venezuelan people."
Behind closed doors, Trump views the opposition as failures from his first term.
“Trump sees the opposition as losers, as they failed to deliver,” said Juan Cruz, who served as the top White House official handling Latin American policy during Trump’s first term. “It’s an opposition that he sees as unimpressive and having come up short, so why would you just turn it over to them?”
Trump has said he wants firm control over what's to come, declaring, "We're in charge."
"We need total access. We need access to the oil and to other things in their country that allow us to rebuild their country," he said.
Maduro himself landed in New York City to face narco-terrorism charges. He pleaded not guilty in court on Monday.