Exclusive: US to launch new phase of Venezuela operations, sources say

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov 22 (Reuters) - The United States is poised to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations in the coming days, four U.S. officials told Reuters, as the Trump administration escalates pressure on President Nicolas Maduro's government.

Reuters was not able to establish the exact timing or scope of the new operations, nor whether U.S. President Donald Trump had made a final decision to act. Reports of looming action have proliferated in recent weeks as the U.S. military has deployed forces to the Caribbean amid worsening relations with Venezuela.

Two of the U.S. officials said covert operations would likely be the first part of the new action against Maduro. All four officials quoted in this article spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of impending action by the United States.

The Pentagon referred questions to the White House. The CIA declined to comment.

snip

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-launch-new-phase-venezuela-operations-sources-say-2025-11-22/

Veterans rally near Portland ICE facility to decry deportations, 'authoritarianism'

Joseph Funk served 10 years in the Idaho Army National Guard, including time as an infantryman in the Iraq War. Early Tuesday evening, he told fellow veterans rallying in South Portland that war is coming home.

“This is not what we fought for,” Funk said, warning that the federal immigration policy and the crackdown on opposition in the U.S. bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the military checkpoints and raids he witnessed in Baghdad. Funk, who drove to Portland from Idaho to speak Tuesday, said armored vehicles and tear gas in American cities undermine what he and other veterans fought for.

“I didn’t carry a weapon so it could be turned against my own community. Did you? Will you?” Funk asked more than 200 gathered at Elizabeth Caruthers Park.

“No!” they replied, emphatically.


more

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2025/11/veterans-rally-near-portland-ice-facility-to-decry-deportations-authoritarianism.html

mandami is ahead

Curious about Austin Texas's No Kings

Where the National Guard was called up.

The kid that jumped off that building did not have a fucking gun

This bothers me. People have claimed that he had the gun in his pants leg. I didn't see it.

Maduro vows to declare a "republic in arms" if U.S. forces in the Caribbean attack Venezuela

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday said he "would constitutionally declare a republic in arms" if the South American country were attacked by forces that the United States government has deployed to the Caribbean.

Maduro claimed eight U.S. military vessels "with 1,200 missiles" were targeting his country, calling them "the greatest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years," AFP reported.


His comments during a news conference come as the U.S. government this week is set to boost its maritime force in the waters off Venezuela to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels. The U.S. has not signaled any planned land incursion by the thousands of personnel being deployed. Still, Maduro's government has responded by deploying troops along its coast and border with neighboring Colombia, as well as by urging Venezuelans to enlist in a civilian militia.

"In the face of this maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum preparedness for the defense of Venezuela," Maduro said of the deployment, which he characterized as "an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat."

snip>

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/maduro-venezuela-us-troops-caribbean/

'You gotta be kidding!' Trump loses it after EU reporter asks about Epstein

President Donald Trump grew frustrated with a reporter who asked about Jeffrey Epstein during an announcement about a trade deal with the European Union.

"Mr. President, was part of the rush to get this deal done to knock the Jeffrey Epstein story [out of the headlines]?" the reporter asked during a press conference in Scotland on Sunday.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding with that!" Trump exclaimed. "No, had nothing to do with it. Only you would think that."

snip>

Video at link
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-reporter-epstein/

DOJ's meeting with longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell happened after Maxwell initiated contact: Source

A senior Department of Justice official met with longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell for six hours on Thursday in Tallahassee, Florida.

The meeting between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Maxwell occurred in downtown Tallahassee at the U.S. attorney's office, which is located inside the federal courthouse, sources familiar with the matter said.

Maxwell initiated the meeting, multiple sources told ABC News.

Blanche and Maxwell will meet again on Friday, according to a statement he posted on X.

cut>

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/doj-meeting-ghislaine-maxwell-set-thursday-sources/story?id=124021785


So this is the story now. Smelly bullshit.

I think Epstein might be what takes that fucker down

Everyday another juicy tidbit gets released. I was just over at the NYT and they have an expose on the "Long Friendship Between Trump and Epstein". https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/19/us/politics/inside-trump-epstein-friendship.html

This story is not going away.

I was over at rawstory and saw a CNN clip by Erin Burnett titled: 'Significant': Erin Burnett catches Trump in Epstein 'lie' with devastating clip https://www.rawstory.com/trump-epstein-2673714608/?utm_source=superhead
It looks real bad. He gets caught in a lie and then pivots

Anyway....this just might be it.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Judge denies DOJ request to unseal Jeffrey Epstein grand jury transcripts in Florida

Source: NBC News

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Florida ruled Wednesday that its "hands are tied" in releasing federal grand jury transcripts from 2005 and 2007 in connection with an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

The ruling was separate from a request that the Justice Department has pending related to a grand jury in the Southern District of New York, where Epstein was ultimately indicted. Epstein died in 2019 while awaiting trial in New York. His accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 and is now serving a 20-year sentence.

In the Florida case, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg said that, though the government believes special circumstances exist and the policy reasons for grand jury secrecy have expired, its rationale "are no exceptions" to grand jury secrecy.

The New York Times was first to report on the ruling.

The government, Rosenberg wrote, "has effectively conceded that the Court's hands are tied" because of a binding precedent by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/judge-denies-doj-request-unseal-jeffrey-epstein-grand-jury-transcripts-rcna220607