12,399 views

, 20 tweets, 5 min read

https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1224026959585402882

https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1224026959585402882

The Trump-Venezuela scandal is coming, and this'll be a data-point. Stay tuned. The short version: Trump is pulling a variation of his Ukraine scheme with Venezuela right now; he never stopped criming, folks, and never will. And Lamar Alexander and the other GOP senators know it.

https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1224026959585402882

PS/ Keep in mind that, per official U.S. foreign policy, Guaido is *not* the Venezuelan "opposition leader"... he's the *rightful president* of Venezuela. So ask yourself, why would Trump want to prop up Putin ally Maduro by *refusing to meet* with Venezuela's rightful president?

PS2/ Now what if I told you many of the same characters involved in the Russia and Ukraine scandals, including Erik Prince and Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas and Pete Sessions and several GOP megadonors, conducted secret negotiations (they claim with Trump's approval) in Venezuela?

PS3/ Those who think Guaido failed, despite the support of 60 nations including the U.S., for reasons having nothing to do with Trump's secret scheme, think again: had Trump not been secretly negotiating with Putin pal Maduro, but instead met Guaido, things may've been different.

PS4/ So ask yourself, did Trump's allies, who were negotiating in Venezuela (with Trump's approval) with Putin's man instead of the man supported by US foreign policy, have business interests in the country? You bet your ass they did. Did Trump get any kickbacks? No one's asking.

PS5/ OTOH, I'm not sure how hidden the kickback is. Giuliani has made clear his legal services cost *many millions*, and also that he always works for Trump for free. If Trump helps him extract money from Venezuela, then doesn't pay for legal services, how is that not a kickback?

PS6/ So in Venezuela, short version, you have Trump secretly supporting a Putin-backed regime his allies are secretly negotiating with and extracting untold millions from, even as Trump undercuts U.S. policy by refusing to meet with the Venezuelan president America *recognizes*.

PS7/ So the results of Trump's secret plot in Venezuela are, at a minimum:

1️⃣ He gets kickbacks in the form of millions of dollars of value from Giuliani.
2️⃣ He pleases Putin at a time he still wants a tower deal in Moscow.
3️⃣ He aids Putin in gaining a foothold in the Americas.

PS8/ And as Trump is doing all this—which mirrors in so many respects what he did and is doing in Russia and Ukraine and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and Turkey and Egypt and Israel and China and elsewhere—his shills are on cable telling us that he FIGHTS CORRUPTION.