Following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolàs Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, an armored vehicle carrying Maduro and Flores was seen leaving the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn ahead of his courtroom appearance in New York City. He is facing drug and weapons charges.
1:28 p.m.: Colombian president responds to Trump: “I will take up arms again”
Following threats of U.S. military action, Colombian President Gustavo Petro fired back after President Donald Trump said an operation in Colombia “sounds good to me.” Petro took to X, writing, “Although I have not been a military man, I know about war and clandestinity. I swore not to touch a weapon again since the 1989 Peace Pact, but for the Homeland I will take up arms again that I do not want.”
Trump made the comments on Air Force One Sunday, adding, “Colombia is very sick, too, run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long.”
Colombia claimed that Trump’s comments were unacceptable threats against an elected leader.
“It represents an undue interference in the internal affairs of the country, against the norms of international law,” said the Foreign Ministry in a statement on Sunday.
8:52 a.m. : Top Trump officials will brief bipartisan lawmakers on Venezuela operation
This evening, Trump administration officials are set to brief a select bipartisan group of lawmakers about Venezuela in a classified setting. The briefing is expected to take place at 5:30 p.m.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and CIA director John Radcliffe are expected to be in attendance at the briefing.
Ranking members and the chairs of the senate and house foreign affairs relations and armed services committees and the “Gang of Eight” will be those within the group of lawmakers briefed. The “Gang of Eight” consists of congressional leaders of each party, the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
A source told CNN that the administration is working to schedule an all senators briefing later in the week.
8 a.m. Monday: Judge who denied use of Enemies Act to oversee Maduro appearance
Alvin K. Hellerstein, a senior judge in the Southern District of New York since 2011, has been assigned the high-profile case against Maduro.
This past May, Hellerstein made headlines after stopping the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans, claiming the administration failed to demonstrate the existence of a “war” or “invasion,” necessary conditions for invoking the act.
Over the summer, former Venezuelan general and intelligence head Hugo Crajal Barrios pleaded guilty before Hellerstein to narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charges,. His sentencing is pending.
