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The capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro was “not just about drugs,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in her first interview about the military operation on “Hannity” Monday.
Maduro and other defendants could face charges in other places, Bondi said.
“Nothing is off the table,” Bondi told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “These people must remain behind bars. They are responsible for the loss of so many lives, and these aren’t street-level drug dealers. They are narco-traffickers.”
On Monday, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism and other charges in federal court.
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The Justice Department says Maduro provided “Venezuelan diplomatic passports to drug traffickers and facilitated diplomatic cover for planes used by money launderers to repatriate drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela.”
A man who had a brief exchange with Maduro in the Manhattan court told Fox News the dictator declared himself a “prisoner of war” and compared himself to Jesus.
“I am innocent, I am not guilty,” Maduro told the court. “I am a decent man. I am still president of my country.”
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Some Democrats have criticized the military operation as a violation of state sovereignty, comparing it to former President George W. Bush’s actions in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Bondi insisted “Operation Absolute Resolve” was “well within” President Donald Trump’s constitutional authority in response to critics.
“It was a law enforcement function to arrest indicted individuals in Venezuela,” Bondi explained. “Our military pulled off a flawless, flawless execution of that.”
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She went on to stress Saturday’s covert operation “saved countless lives.”
“The president saved thousands, countless lives tonight,” Bondi said. “But he also protected Americans from the TDA [Tren de Aragua] members who Maduro let into our country, forced into our country.”
The attorney general listed several murder victims of Venezuelan gang members, including 22-year-old Laken Riley and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.
“It’s horrific and it is going to stop,” she vowed.
While Trump has said the U.S. will temporarily “run” Venezuela, Maduro’s allies in the government have contested the claim.
The Venezuelan dictator and his wife are set to appear in court again March 17.
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