Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds a press conference with the traveling State Dept press pool following the G7 foreign ministers meeting.
Secretary Rubio was questioned about Russia’s attacks on Ukraine and the EU position against the USA on the narco terrorist strikes toward Central America. Secretary Rubio sets the record straight. WATCH:
On Sudan: “The horrifying reports of the massacre of hundreds of Sudanese civilians after the Darfur city of El Fasher was captured by the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last week were the latest chapter in a brutal conflict that has killed more than 150,000 people over the past two and a half years.” (read more)
As the U.S. military continues targeting drug vessels from Venezuelan Transnational Criminal Organizations, the Dept of War is sending an entire U.S. Carrier Strike Group into the region. The Gerald Ford carrier strike group is pictured below:
In support of the President’s directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland, the Secretary of War has directed the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR).
The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere. These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs. (link)
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt give impromptu remarks to the assembled press pool following President Trump and President Putin’s two-hour phone call.
Last week the New York Times noted, “Michael Ellis, the deputy director of the C.I.A., has abruptly demoted a career lawyer who had been serving as the agency’s acting general counsel since January and installed himself in that role, according to people familiar with the matter. […] It was not clear what was behind Mr. Ellis’s taking personal control of making legal judgments for the agency while continuing to help lead it”… (link)
Today the New York Times is reporting, “The Trump administration has secretly authorized the C.I.A. to conduct covert action in Venezuela, according to U.S. officials, stepping up a campaign against Nicolás Maduro, the country’s authoritarian leader.” […] The agency would be able to take covert action against Mr. Maduro or his government either unilaterally or in conjunction with a larger military operation. It is not known whether the C.I.A. is planning any operations in Venezuela or if the authorities are meant as a contingency.”
[…] “The new authorities, known in intelligence jargon as a presidential finding, were described by multiple U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the highly classified document.” (link)
The Supreme Court has stayed a lower court injunction against the Trump administration {Ruling Here}.
In the 1-page decision, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to immediately end immigration protections called “Temporary Protection Status” that allowed roughly 350,000 illegal alien Venezuelans to remain in the USA. Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson would have allowed the block to stay in place.
BACKGROUND– […] In February, seven Venezuelan migrants and the National TPS Alliance sued the Trump administration to block the termination of protected status for Venezuelans. A federal judge in Northern California paused Trump’s action, ruling that the cancellation of protected status violated procedural rules and was probably sparked by racial animus. (read more)
Rubio Outlines Ongoing CIA Attacks Against Trump Administration!
Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears on CBS Face the Nation to discuss on going geopolitical events. In addition to the discussion and outline of the ongoing talks with Russian officials, Secretary Rubio makes an interesting point about Tren de Aragua and an intelligence assessment made by the CIA sub-silo, the National Intelligence Council.
You might remember the recent report about DNI Tulsi Gabbard taking the National Intelligence Council out of the CIA parent silo and replacing both heads of the agency. I think Secretary Rubio just outlined why Director Gabbard made that decision. It appears the CIA-NIC was weaponizing the intelligence against the President Trump administration. WATCH BELOW and see it.
[TRANSCRIPT] – MARGARET BRENNAN: And joining us now is Secretary of State Marco Rubio from Rome. Mr. Secretary, you’ve had a very busy week. I know you have been at the Vatican, and they have offered to host a direct meeting between Ukraine and Russia. Given that Vladimir Putin was a no show at the talks he called for in Istanbul this past week, is there reason to believe that he will take up Pope Leo on the offer?
SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO: Well, I think if you saw- again, I’m not a spokesperson for the Kremlin, but if you saw their statements, I believe yesterday, where they said that they would be open to such a meeting under the right conditions. So we’ll wait and see if that’s possible. Obviously, the Vatican has made a very generous offer to host anything, by the way, not just a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, but any meeting, including at a technical level, you know, any meetings that- that need to be hosted, they- they’ve expressed a willingness to do so. So it’s a very generous offer that may be taken up on. I mean, it would be a site that all parties would feel comfortable. So hopefully we’ll get to that stage where- where talks are happening on a regular basis and that the Vatican will have the opportunity to be one of the options.
Last week President Trump announced secondary tariffs of 25% against any nation who purchases oil from Venezuela. The approach was in response to the Venezuelan government refusing repatriation of their criminal gang members and organized narcotraffickers.
India operates the world’s largest oil refining company Reliance Industries, and facing the possibility of 25% tariffs against India, Reliance has cancelled oil purchases from Venezuela.
NEW DELHI, March 26 (Reuters) – India’s Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), opens new tab, operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, will halt Venezuelan oil imports after the United States announced a 25% tariff on nations buying crude from the South American nation, three sources said on Wednesday.
The Indian conglomerate, which last year obtained approval from U.S. authorities to purchase oil from the sanctioned producer, imports an average of 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude every month, according to LSEG data.
President Trump makes an announcement of secondary tariffs targeting Venezuela by triggering a 25% tariff against any nation who purchases Venezuelan oil or gas.
China is the largest purchaser of Venezuelan oil, followed by the USA after Joe Biden changed the sanctions regime.
The tariff timeline is set to trigger on April 2nd, the same date as the reciprocal tariffs against all nations.
Truth Social – “President Donald J. Trump announced today that the United States of America will be putting what is known as a Secondary Tariff on the Country of Venezuela, for numerous reasons, including the fact that Venezuela has purposefully and deceitfully sent to the United States, undercover, tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals, many of whom are murderers and people of a very violent nature.
Among the gangs they sent to the United States, is Tren de Aragua, which has been given the designation of “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” We are in the process of returning them to Venezuela — It is a big task! In addition, Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse.
I love it when a plan comes together. It all just makes buckets of sense when we watch it rolling out. We have talked about these plans, specific plans, and objectives for several years. Now we get to watch it in action. [Big Happy]
The elimination of USAID plays a complimentary role in the specifics of this approach. More on that later. In the interim, Ric Grenell was held in reserve – not given an official cabinet position, for exactly the reason of a necessary emissary function we discussed {GO DEEP}. The first mission was a resounding success.
Additionally, President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Saturday that Venezuela had agreed to take back migrants who had come to the United States illegally.
The announcement came after a meeting between President Nicolás Maduro and a senior Trump administration official, Richard Grenell, that led to the release of six US detainees held in Venezuela.
“Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” Trump wrote. “Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back.” {link}
For those who have followed the deep weeds of republican political games and schemes, the DeSantis flights from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard had a specific familiarity to them.
The transfer of Venezuelan migrants, illegal alien border crossers, from Texas to Massachusetts via Florida taxpayers and Ron DeSantis was/is, well, something republican strategist Lee Atwater would have come up with. The protege’ to Atwater is a person more familiar to modern republican followers, Karl Rove. Yes, the migrant transfer operation held all the political benefits of something very Rovian in its construct.
Take an issue like border security, central to the majority of republicans, add an element of targeted benefit and overlay an establishment playbook carried out by shadow constructs giving plausible deniability to the central planners in the backroom, and you get this type of operation. However, there’s always a risk of taking things just too far and losing control. An investigative article in the Miami Herald today has the elements of a looming backlash that needs to be avoided by the principle.
The Miami Herald is a notoriously left-wing super narrative machine, but when it comes to using their investigative resources to target a vulnerability in their opposition, they are akin to the New York Times in the sharpness of their attack. If the story as outlined in the Miami Herald is even remotely accurate, the thirsty people behind DeSantis may have just set themselves up for a problem and created an ‘own goal‘ scenario.
