Daring bin Laden-style plot the White House has | Political News

A secret assassination plan for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, comparable to that of Osama bin Laden, was described by White House sources as already “teed up,” according to reporting by The Daily Mail.

The Justice Department under President Joe Biden in 2020 charged Maduro with successfully changing Venezuela into a prison enterprise at the service of drug traffickers and terrorist teams, while he and his allies stole billions from the nation. An indictment by New York prosecutors accused Maduro and others of conspiring with Colombian rebels and members of the navy “to flood the United States with cocaine” and use the drug commerce as a “weapon against America,” according to The Associated Press.

Despite assertions from the U.S. intelligence community that Trump’s claim about Maduro working with the Tren de Aragua group is false, the U.S. military has gathered an unusual number of Navy vessels off South America, stoking fears of an invasion in Venezuela and an attack against Maduro himself. A Special Forces operation to take out Maduro, similar to the one ordered by President Barack Obama in 2011, is reportedly now awaiting authorization from Trump.

The Daily Mail reported that a source familiar with Trump’s South America strategy spoke of the existence of a bin Laden-style plan to kill Maduro, one that White House officials did not deny. “It’s going to get spicy,” the source reportedly said.

In 2011, Obama ordered a SEAL Team Six raid on a mansion in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that resulted in the death of the al-Qaeda founder.

Senate Republicans voted to reject legislation Thursday that would have put a check on Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela, as Democrats pressed Congress to take a stronger role in Trump’s high-stakes campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the AP reported.

Lawmakers, including top Republicans, have demanded that the Trump administration provide them with more information on the U.S. military strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. But Thursday’s vote, on legislation that would essentially forestall an attack on Venezuelan soil without congressional authorization, suggested Republicans are willing to give Trump leeway to continue his buildup of naval forces in the region.

“President Trump has taken decisive action to protect thousands of Americans from lethal narcotics,” said Sen. Jim Risch, the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Beginning in early September, he and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that drug-smuggling narco-terrorists had been trying to enter American territory with enough narcotics to “kill 25 to 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE,” alleged acts of terror comparable in scope to the 9/11 attacks. They subsequently ordered the military to kill at least 69 people in 17 strikes in the seas off South America, the death toll continuing to rise by the week.

But the members of the Trump administration responsible for the attacks have refused to provide Congress with evidence linking the boats to drug-trafficking networks, proof that there were drugs onboard or the names of the cartels that are allegedly involved.

Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. He has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But as the number of strikes has grown, a debate in Congress has escalated over the limits of the president’s power. The attacks have occurred without any legal investigation or a traditional declaration of war from Congress, and some lawmakers have raised questions about the lack of hard evidence to justify the killings, according to AP.

Rep. Adam Smith last month called for the White House to brief Congress on the matter, saying that he had “never seen such a staggering lack of transparency.”

Trump told a White House reporter bluntly last month that he would continue circumventing Congress by fatally striking boats in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, saying, “we’re just gonna kill people.” His statement came after he had expressed frustration with the Nobel Committee for snubbing his alleged peacemaking efforts and refusing to award him a Peace Prize.

“Mr. President, if you’re declaring struggle against these cartels and Congress is probably going to approve of that course of, why not just ask for a declaration of struggle?” a reporter asked the president in the wake of the military’s ninth strike against a vessel allegedly carrying drugs.

“I do not suppose we’re gonna essentially ask for a declaration of struggle,” Trump replied. “I feel we’re just gonna kill people. Okay? We’re gonna kill them. They’re gonna be, like, lifeless.”

Asked about the then-latest boat assault in October, Trump insisted that “we have legal authority. We’re allowed to do that.” He said comparable strikes might finally come on land.

“We will hit them very hard when they come in by land,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re totally prepared to do that. And we’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we come to the land.”

Trump said the strikes he’s ordering are meant to save Americans and “the only way you can’t feel bad about it … is that you realize that every time you see that happen, you’re saving 25,000 lives.”