Trump Pushes Conspiracy That Venezuela Helped Biden Win After Maduro’s Capture

Key Facts

Tangent

Maduro and his government have been broadly accused by governments and humanitarian groups of manipulating their own elections, including Maduro’s most recent electoral win in 2024. The U.S. imposed sanctions on Venezuelan election officials who allegedly helped Maduro certify his win for a third term, and the first Trump administration decried other allegedly fraudulent elections carried out under Maduro’s leadership. Trump said in public remarks Saturday he still believed Maduro had been serving as president unlawfully—which many neutral election observers generally agree with—accusing the leader of remaining in power “for many years after his term as president of Venezuela expired.”

Why Is Trump Pushing The Venezuela Fraud Claims?

Trump has long continued to insist the 2020 election was “stolen” and push false claims of election fraud, even after the president faced multiple sets of criminal charges—now dismissed—over his efforts to overturn the vote count. David M. Rowe, a political science professor at Kenyon College, speculated to The Guardian in November the fraud claims could now be politically expedient for Trump as he tries to get his base to support his actions in Venezuela, given that his supporters may be more likely to support military action over the 2020 election than over other reasons Trump has given for his opposition to Maduro’s regime, like opposing alleged drug trafficking. “As … a reason for war, narcoterrorism looks extremely weak. An attack on the American electoral system is stronger,” Rowe told The Guardian. “If [Trump] can argue to the MAGA movement that [Venezuela] did intervene in the US political system, it’s a stronger case for war.”

Does Trump Believe The Fraud Claims?

While Trump has long pushed 2020 election fraud claims, former special counsel Jack Smith, who prosecuted Trump in federal court, claimed in court filings the president privately does not believe what he’s told supporters. Smith alleged Trump and his allies made up their fraud claims “out of whole cloth,” and the president was repeatedly told by his top aides that there was no evidence to back up the comments. Trump allegedly particularly did not believe the claims of voting machines “flipping” votes, as spread by attorney Sidney Powell, with Smith alleging Trump privately “mocked and laughed at” Powell’s claims, calling them “crazy” and likening them to “Star Trek.”

Surprising Fact

Dominion has pointed out in court filings the company never actually serviced an election in Venezuela, despite right-wing claims made in 2020 tying the company to Chavez’s regime. Smartmatic was founded in Florida but has been used in Venezuelan elections, from the country’s first automated elections in 2004, until 2017. It is not linked to the Venezuelan government, however, and the company publicly accused Maduro’s government of manipulating the vote count in 2017. Smartmatic has also repeatedly pointed out that while its machines have been blamed for alleged fraud in the U.S. 2020 election, no Smartmatic machines were actually used in any of the battleground states where Republicans contested the vote counts.

News Peg

Trump announced early Saturday morning his administration captured Maduro and his wife, calling the move a “kidnapping,” and launched strikes in multiple Venezuelan cities. The Venezuelan leader was indicted on drug-related charges and transported to New York City, where he will appear in court Monday, after the first Trump administration previously indicted Maduro on drug charges in 2020. The strikes in Venezuela and Maduro’s capture marked a sharp escalation of the Trump administration’s opposition to Maduro’s government and push for a regime change. The federal government had launched strikes on vessels in the Caribbean because of alleged drug trafficking in recent months, but had not conducted any strikes on Venezuelan soil. Trump has said the U.S. will “run” Venezuela “until such time we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition” and claimed U.S. oil companies will intervene in the country’s oil infrastructure, but it still remains unclear what presence the U.S. will maintain in Venezuela going forward and whether any further military action could take place. Secretary of State Marco Rubio walked back Trump’s comments suggesting the U.S. would “run” the country, saying Sunday the administration would continue campaigns to strike alleged traffickers in the Caribbean and exert pressure on the Venezuelan government, but does not have immediate plans to govern the country or conduct new elections.

Further Reading

Maduro Arrives In Manhattan Hours Before First U.S. Court Appearance (Forbes)

Maduro Arrives In U.S. After Capture (Live Updates) (Forbes)

Smartmatic Settles With Newsmax: Here’s Where It And Dominion’s Other Lawsuits Stand (Forbes)

Trump hints support for fringe theory that Venezuela rigged 2020 election (The Guardian)

Trump’s DoJ investigating unfounded claims Venezuela helped steal 2020 election (The Guardian)

How Sidney Powell inaccurately cited Venezuela’s elections as evidence of U.S. fraud. (New York Times)