Pres. Trump begins his remarks at the National Day of Prayer ceremony speaking on Venezuela: 'The brutal repression of the Venezuelan people must end, and it must end soon.'
The Trump administration is weighing options for what to do next in Venezuela to support opposition leader Juan Guaido in his effort to oust Nicolas Maduro, the socialist president embattled by mass protests and the country's economic crisis.
Senior U.S. administration officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, and National Security Advisor John Bolton, will meet at the White House Wednesday afternoon. With the situation on the ground still"extraordinarily fluid," according to Shanahan, the U.S. says it is still weighing military options.
Guaido gave an impassioned speech at a rally Wednesday, warning that,"Difficult days are probably coming, because of the push back, the persecution, the internal witch hunt by the armed forces," but that change was coming. "Mr. Pompeo, please, what lack of seriousness," Maduro said in a televised meeting, surrounded by his Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez and other top officials -- a visible sign that he maintained the backing of the country's military and security service, at least for now.
Although Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the head of the Venezuelan intelligence service, known as SEBIN, did throw his support behind Guaido late Tuesday, most senior leaders maintained support for Maduro. Some U.S. officials blamed Russia for that.
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