"The meeting came a day after President Trump spoke to Ms. Rodríguez on the phone and on the same day he met with María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition and a Nobel laureate."
After months of infiltration into the country and the government in Venezuela by CIA operators and just a couple weeks after one of the most extraordinary joint military operations in the history of the world (which could not have happened without the CIA's work pre-raid), the Director of the CIA just strolled into Caracas and told the the communist regime,
"The United States looks forward to an improved working relationship."
That's baller.
"C.I.A. analysts assessed that having Ms. Rodríguez continue as interim leader was the best way to prevent Venezuela from “descending into some chaotic situation,”"
"The lessons learned from Iraq hung heavily over the debates at the top ranks of the Trump administration. Administration officials said that the Bush administration’s decision to push out the entire Iraqi government and dismantle the army ushered in a long era of instability and insurgency that cost Iraqi and American lives and mired the United States in the country."
👏👏👏👏👏
"...in the short term, the official said, Ms. Rodríguez is seen as someone who can keep control of the security forces, maintain infrastructure and “cooperate and coordinate with the U.S. government.”"
🧵(Disqualified) Interim US Attorney Lindsey Halligan's 120-Day Appointment is Up.
The United States District Court for EDVA has posted a vacancy notice, seeking someone to run that office.
1/n
Even if you accept the argument that Halligan was lawfully appointed and should not have been disqualified, which is currently under appeal at the Fourth Circuit,... her time is up.
The 120 days have passed by.
So, there's a vacancy.
2/n
The role could have easily and quickly been filled by Robert McBride, an experienced DOJ prosecutor and former Navy lawyer who was taken out of the Kentucky office to serve as Halligan's First Assistant....
At the detention hearing on Dec 30, we learned that prosecutors had a 2-count indictment against Cole from a "local grand jury," meaning one empaneled by the Superior Court of the District of Columbia—not one empaneled by the federal court.