Pam Bondi has charged Nicols Maduro with "possession of machine guns" under the National Firearms Act of 1934,

[LetMyPeopleVote]

According to Professor Vladeck, the legal justification for today's action was the arrest of Maduro by two FBI agents who were being protected by the military. Here is part of the indictment of Maduro

Link to tweet

BREAKING: Pam Bondi has charged Nicolás Maduro with “possession of machine guns” under the National Firearms Act of 1934, a U.S. gun law.

Think about how absurd that is.

By that logic, China or Russia can kidnap Trump and sentence him to death for “possessing” 5,200 nuclear warheads under their domestic laws.

American presidents are now supposedly immune from prosecution for their official acts, yet foreign presidents can be arrested for allegedly violating U.S. statutes that do not apply to foreign citizens, in foreign countries.

You can hate Maduro and still recognize that this precedent is reckless, hypocritical, and dangerous, because once domestic law becomes a weapon against foreign leaders, no country gets to complain when it’s done to us next.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Sovereignty, sovereignty.

US Law has no jurisdiction in Venezuela.

[underpants]

2. Here? (jurisdiction) he'll be convicted but Pamela Jo can't help

but to screw up SOMEHOW

Conspiracy RICO - he do have evidence, right?

[sop]

3. What, no charges of sex trafficking of a minor?

[Traildogbob]

4. A charge that could

Be applied to most J6er’s and most of the militia terrorists here at home.

[C_U_L8R]

5. What Judge will let this charade go to court?

(besides the ones on Trump’s payroll, that is)

[NickB79]

6. Unless he possessed those machine guns while on US territory

That's an impossible charge to prosecute.

Imagine Canada crossing the border, abducting American citizens that own AR-15's legally in the US, and charging them with owning illegal firearms under Canada's strict firearms laws.

[dalton99a]

7. Kick

[flvegan]

8. Bondi is an almost hilariously shitty lawyer. As evidenced here. n/t

[sheshe2]

10. She is almost as good as Halligan and Habba Daba Doo!

[flvegan]

17. LOL, sheshe2 "almost" LOL

[sheshe2]

19. ...

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Trying Maduro in the US is no slam dunk

Professor Vladek has a some good analysis on any possible trial of Maduro in US courts. There is an issue of head of state immunity.

open.substack.com/pub/stevevla.... Steve Vladeck

— Maria & Carol Los (@terpsichorecmlos.bsky.social) 2026-01-03T23:27:00.538Z

https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/200-five-questions-about-the-maduro?r=4obbfg&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay&triedRedirect=true

The tougher nuts for prosecutors to crack will be Maduro’s arguments that he’s entitled to some kind of immunity—whether because he was Venezuela’s “head of state” or because, even if he wasn’t, his alleged crimes all arise from official acts conducted with governmental authority. Both of these doctrines are common-law doctrines that federal courts apply with at least some reference to executive branch practice.

On head-of-state immunity, there’s no doubt that, as one district court put it in 1994, “A head-of-state recognized by the United States government is absolutely immune from personal jurisdiction in United States courts unless that immunity has been waived by statute or by the foreign government recognized by the United States.” The issue here is recognition. Unlike Noriega in Panama (who was at most the de facto head of state), Maduro lawfully served as interim president after Hugo Chávez’s 2013 death; and he was formally recognized as the Venezuelan head of state for years—by both the Obama and Trump administrations—after his 2013 election. It’s only since 2019, after serious concerns arose regarding the integrity of the 2018 Venezuelan elections, that the United States has refused to recognize Maduro as the lawful head of state—in a context in which, unlike what was true for Noriega, Maduro would have at least some claim that he was lawfully serving in that position under Venezuelan law. In other words, Maduro was, for quite some time, recognized as Venezuela’s head of state. And even during the period in which he wasn’t, he has at least a plausible claim that he was nevertheless entitled to immunity. Either way, that question seems much closer here than in the Noriega case (or others).

And even if courts ultimately reject head-of-state immunity, they may still conclude that Maduro is insulated from liability for “official acts,” especially in light of the Supreme Court’s embrace of a version of constitutional “official act” immunity for President Trump in Trump v. United States. In its 2012 ruling in Yousuf v. Samantar, the Fourth Circuit carefully analyzed both of these immunity doctrines before holding that they did not apply to a high-ranking official in Somalia during the military regime of General Mohamed Barre. But there are lots of grounds on which Maduro’s arguments could well be stronger—including his higher status; the extent to which the acts he’s charged with are not as obviously violations of jus cogens norms of international law; and so on.

All of this is to say that the prosecution will be no slam dunk, especially with regard to the charges against Maduro himself. That may not matter in the grander scheme of things, but it’s yet another way in which Friday’s operation raises more questions than it answers.

This will be an interesting trial that is NOT a slam dunk

[Progressive dog]

11. Wow

Dumber than a stump. She doesn't know what national means,

[Vinca]

12. How on earth does she think she can charge that?

[Historic NY]

13. Wait he possessed them here?

They won't even go after them here for US citizens

[BoycottTwitter]

14. It's the shame people are still posting exclusively on Twitter.

I wanted to link to Bluesky to give people an alternative to Twitter but it turns out that https://bsky.app/profile/krassenstein.bsky.social never posted that particular Tweet on Bluesky.

So as an alternative you can use Nitter to view the Tweet without needing an account. https://nitter.net/krassenstein/status/2007589138233508341

[Bettie]

15. The only conclusion I can come to

is that Bondi and everyone else at the DOJ is brain dead. Like, practically vegetable level stupid.

ETA: And by vegetable, I mean, her brain has as much gray matter as an average head of cabbage does....none.

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

16. It's like the U.S has become an episode of the Untouchables.

[UTUSN]

18. What, she doesn't cover him with Constitutional Carry and Stand Your Ground?!1

[LetMyPeopleVote]

20. Wait, do US gun laws are applying in the whole world now? Can I get a gun here in Europe?

Link to tweet

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

21. Bondi wasn't hired for her brains

Just saying.