Trump renews push to acquire Greenland, says US will get millions of barrels of

This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day, on the fifth anniversary of the January 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters. Here are the latest developments:

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  Donald Trump made a stunning announcement that the interim authorities in Venezuela, who apparently now serve at his pleasure, will let him sell between $1.8 and $3bn worth of their country’s oil, which made real a fantasy the president has been sharing in public for at least 15 years, about using the US military to “take the oil” of conquered nations.

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  Trump is actively discussing options for “acquiring Greenland”, including the use of the US military, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said.

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  Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, stressed at a meeting with his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, that “the future of Greenland and Denmark” must be “decided solely by the people of Denmark and Greenland.”

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  Senator Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat and former marine who fought in Iraq, called the news that Trump is considering an invasion of Greenland “INSANE” and called for Congress to block it.

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  Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, hardened her tone against the United States on Tuesday, saying in a televised address that “no external agent governs Venezuela”. Hours later, Trump announced that the interim government was giving him up to 50 million barrels of its oil.

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  The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, told lawmakers that the president was just using threats of military action in Greenland to convince Denmark to sell the territory to the United States, the Wall Street Journal reports.

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  Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the foreign minister of Denmark, told reporters that he hopes to meet Rubio soon, with his Greenlandic counterpart, to try to correct what he called the false information Trump has spread about Greenland.

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  Senators Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, issued a bipartisan statement urging Trump to accept that “Greenland is not for sale”.

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Donald Trump will meet with oil company executives at the White House on Friday to discuss rebuilding Venezuela’s degraded oil sector, two unnamed sources told Reuters.

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Raising crude output from Venezuela, which sits on the world’s largest oil reserves, is a top objective for Trump after US forces seized the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, in a raid on its capital Caracas on Saturday, and left his regime in place.

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Chevron is the only major US oil firm now operating in Venezuela’s oil fields.

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Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips were major producers in the country before their projects were nationalized by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, nearly two decades ago.

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Donald Trump’s stunning announcement on Tuesday, that the interim authorities in Venezuela, who apparently now serve at his pleasure, will let him sell between $1.8bn and $3bn worth of their country’s oil, and decide how to spend the proceeds, makes real a fantasy the president has been sharing in public for at least 15 years, about using the US military to “take the oil” of conquered nations.

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Earlier in the day, Joe Scarborough, a former Republican representative turned centrist pundit, reported that Trump had told him in a phone conversation that his plans for Venezuela were very different from the failed US occupation of Iraq two decades ago. “Joe, the difference between Iraq and this is that Bush didn’t keep the oil,” the president said. “We’re going to keep the oil.”

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“In 2016,” Trump added, “I said we should’ve kept the oil. It caused a lot of controversy. Well, we should’ve kept the oil.”

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In Venezuela, he said, “we’re going to rebuild their broken-down oil facilities, and this time, we’re going to keep the oil”.

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As I reported in 2016, Trump did indeed tell Matt Lauer, at a presidential forum on the military two months before he was elected, that the US had made a grave mistake in Iraq by failing to “take the oil” before withdrawing all of its troops.

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“If we would’ve taken the oil, you wouldn’t have Isis, because Isis formed with the power and the wealth of that oil,” Trump said.

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“How are we going to take the oil?” Lauer asked.

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Trump suggested that the US could have left troops behind to “take various sections where they have the oil”.

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“You know, it used to be the victor belong the spoils,” Trump added. “But I always said, take the oil.”

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In that interview, Trump was referring to the fact that he had, five years earlier, when he briefly considered running for president against Barack Obama, repeatedly called for the US to use its military force to extort control of foreign oil reserves.

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In a YouTube video posted in late February 2011 on a channel set up to promote The Apprentice, Trump criticized Obama for not sending in troops to topple Col Muammar Gaddafi. “I can’t believe what our country is doing,” Trump said. “Gaddafi in Libya is killing thousands of people, nobody knows how bad it is, and we’re sitting around. We have soldiers all have the Middle East, and we’re not bringing them in to stop this horrible carnage.”

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“After it’s all done, we go to the protesters, who end up running the country,” Trump added, “and we should then say: ‘By the way, from all of your oil, we want reimbursement.’”

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A month later, when the Fox host Bill O’Reilly quizzed him on how he would handle foreign policy as president, Trump proudly unveiled his plan to seize Iraq’s oil.

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“I like the old system better: you won a war, you stay there, and you keep the oil,” Trump said. “You stay and protect the oil, and you take the oil and you take whatever is necessary for them and you take what’s necessary for us and we pay our self back $1.5tn or more. We take care of Britain, we take care of other countries that helped us, and we don’t be so stupid.”

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“So, in a nutshell,” he added, “we go in, we take over the second-largest oilfields, and we stay.”

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When O’Reilly stifled a laugh as he said: “So you’re going to take over the Iraqi oilfields?” Trump was indignant, saying: “Don’t smile!”

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“I’m just saying,” O’Reilly said, “if you’re going to go into the Iraq oilfields and take them over, there’s going to be a lot of blowback.”

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Five months later, after the US-led air campaign had forced Gaddafi from power in Libya – and Trump had decided not to challenge Obama for the presidency – the star of The Apprentice posted another YouTube video, this time complaining that the US should have waited longer to aid the Libyan rebels, to force them to agree to surrender half of the country’s oil reserves.

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“What we should’ve done is we should’ve asked the rebels when they came to us – and they came to us, they were being routed by Gaddafi, they were being decimated – we should’ve said: ‘We’ll help you, but we want 50% of your oil,’” Trump said. “They would’ve said: ‘How about 75%?’”

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The US military’s Northern Command announced on Tuesday that hundreds of national guard troops, called up in support of immigration enforcement raids in Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago, are being returned from federal service to their respective states.

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All of those troops “will return to their home units once their demobilization is complete”, the military command said in a statement.

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Oregon’s governor, Tina Kotek, welcomed the decision to release the reservists who were blocked from deploying to the streets of Portland by a federal court injunction.

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Kotek said:

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The citizen-soldiers of the Oregon National Guard are our neighbors, friends, and family. These courageous Oregonians deserve certainty and respect. While I am relieved that all our troops will finally return home, it does not make up for the personal sacrifices of more than 100 days, including holidays, spent in limbo.

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During this crisis, Oregonians stood united against the unwanted, unneeded, unconstitutional military intervention in our state, with thousands peacefully voicing their opposition to the Trump Administration’s abuse of power.

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President Trump’s disregard for the facts on the ground revealed that he is more focused on provoking a fight in cities and states that don’t share his politics than serving the American people. I remain committed to defending our values and the rule of law.

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Senators Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, issued a bipartisan statement urging Donald Trump to accept that “Greenland is not for sale”.

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The senators, who co-chair a Senate group on Nato, wrote:

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Denmark is one of our oldest and most reliable allies. Danish troops have fought and died alongside Americans in numerous conflicts, and Denmark was among the first to stand with us when NATO invoked Article 5 following the 9/11 attacks. Today, Denmark is significantly increasing its defense spending and remains a critical partner in Arctic security. This is an ally that has earned our unwavering respect.

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When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark. Any suggestion that our nation would subject a fellow NATO ally to coercion or external pressure undermines the very principles of self-determination that our Alliance exists to defend.

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They added: “As we confront the challenges of the 21st century, we do so alongside allies like Denmark who stand with us by choice, not by compulsion.”

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Donald Trump, who has for years claimed that the US military can and should be used to take control of the oil of foreign nations, announced on Tuesday that the interim authorities in Venezuela have agreed to let him sell 30-50m barrels of their oil.

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“I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America. This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

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“I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately,” he added. “It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.”

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Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the foreign minister of Denmark, told reporters on Tuesday that he hopes Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, responds to a request from Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, for the three of them to meet soon to discuss threats from Donald Trump to seize the Danish self-governing territory.

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According to the Danish public broadcaster DR, Rasmussen said that such a meeting would give the Danes and Greenlanders a chance to correct what he called the false information Trump has used to argue that Greenland poses a threat to the security of the United States.

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That misinformation, the foreign minister said, includes false claims that there are a lot of Russian and Chinese ships around Greenland, and that China exerts great influence there through investments.

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“Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.

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“We do not share this image that Greenland is plastered with Chinese investments,” Rasmussen said, “nor that there are Chinese warships up and down along Greenland”.

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Rasmussen spoke to reporters after an emergency session of Denmark’s foreign policy committee and defense ministry with just one item on the agenda: “The Kingdom’s relations with the United States.”

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Denmark’s defense minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said after the meeting that Denmark had spent billions to increase security in Greenland, not, as Trump had claimed this week, by adding just “one more dog sled”.

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The foreign ministers of five Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – have rejected the Trump administration’s statement that it is reviewing options for “acquiring Greenland” in a joint statement on Tuesday.

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“We collectively reiterate that matters concerning Denmark and Greenland are for Denmark and Greenland to decide alone,” the foreign ministers write.

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The statement also says that the nations “support NATO increasing its presence and vigilance” in the arctic region, but security “rests on respect for the fundamental principles of the UN Charter and international law, including the inviolability of borders”.

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“The Kingdom of Denmark, including Greenland, is a founding member of NATO,” the foreign ministers note, “and has historically worked closely with the United States on Arctic Security, including through the Defense Agreement between the US and Denmark from 1951, which offers opportunities for increased security cooperation.”

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During a classified briefing on Venezuela on Monday, Donald Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, told lawmakers that the president was just using threats of military action in Greenland to convince Denmark to sell the territory to the United States, the Wall Street Journal reports.

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According to the Journal, Rubio was responding to a question from Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, about whether the Trump administration plans to make good on threats to use military force in Mexico and Greenland.

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Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator who was a scathing critic of Trump’s qualifications to be commander-in-chief in 2016 but has since turned into a staunch supporter, told the newspaper the threat to attack Greenland “is all about negotiations”.

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After Graham dropped out of the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he told reporters that choosing between the final two candidates, Trump and Ted Cruz, was “like being shot or poisoned”.

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“Donald Trump I think is the most unprepared person I’ve ever met to be commander-in-chief,” Graham added. “When Donald Trump speaks about foreign policy, it scares the hell out of me.”

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Senator Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat and former marine who fought in Iraq, called the White House statement that Donald Trump is considering using the military to invade Greenland “INSANE” in a social media post and called for Congress to block the threatened invasion of Danish territory.

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In response to the news, Gallego wrote on Bluesky: “INSANE. This is why I’m taking action. Congress MUST act so I’m introducing my War Powers Resolution to stop this Dumbroe Doctrine.”

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Gallego has drafted an amendment to the Pentagon defense appropriations bill “To prohibit the use of funds for military force, the conduct of hostilities, or the preparation for war against or with respect to Greenland”.

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In his social media post, Gallego also made a mocking reference to Trump’s recent boast that his attack on Venezuela was a development of the 1823 Monroe doctrine, which the president claimed some were calling the “Donroe doctrine”.

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“This is not more complicated than the fact that Trump wants a giant island with his name on it,” Gallego added. “He wouldn’t think twice about putting our troops in danger if it makes him feel big and strong. The US military is not a toy.”

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As the White House says that a military option for seizing the Danish territory of Greenland is under active consideration, Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, just met with his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, in Paris, and stressed that “the future of Greenland and Denmark” must be “decided solely by the people of Denmark and Greenland.”

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Carney also stressed that Denmark and Canada “share a maritime border of 3,000 kilometers” and a close relationship through Nato.

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Carney also mentioned that Canada’s foreign minister, Anita Anand, is about to visit Greenland.

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“I will be in Nuuk in the coming weeks to officially open Canada’s consulate and mark a concrete step in strengthening our engagement in support of Denmark’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including Greenland,” Anand wrote on social media.

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Donald Trump is actively discussing options for “acquiring Greenland”, including the use of the US military, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement on Tuesday:

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President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region. The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal.

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At a news conference in Paris, the ITV correspondent James Mates just asked Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, who touted new commitments from the Trump administration to defend Ukraine: “What value do these commitments have on the very day that at the highest levels of government in Washington they are talking about seizing the sovereign territory of a fellow Nato member?”

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Starmer said that he stood by the statement he made on Monday, when he said that “Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark must determine the future of Greenland and nobody else”.

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After top Trump administration officials gave a briefing to congressional leaders on the military operation in Venezuela, the top House Democrat on the foreign affairs committee said that he “heard nothing” to dispel his “very serious concerns about the Trump administration’s attempted regime-change” in the country.

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“Donald Trump used US military force to invade a sovereign nation without authorization from Congress. He did so not to address an imminent threat to the United States, nor to advance a democratic transition in Venezuela,” said the representative Gregory Meeks. “Instead, the administration is embracing a dangerous worldview in which the United States can run roughshod over our hemisphere, mirroring the same logic Vladimir Putin uses to justify domination over his neighbors.”

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Meeks said he would push for “public hearings, transparency and meaningful oversight to reassert Congress’s constitutional role and prevent further escalation and instability”.

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A reminder that the same officials, including the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will brief all senators on the weekend strikes in Caracas and the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, tomorrow on Capitol Hill.

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• \n

  In a lengthy, sprawling speech to House Republicans at their annual retreat, Donald Trump said that the military operation in Venezuela, which included strikes on Caracas and the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, was “brilliant tactically” and “an incredible thing”. He added that the deposed leader, who remains in US federal custody, is a “violent guy”. Trump added: “He gets up there and he tries to imitate my dance a little bit, but he’s a violent guy, and he’s killed millions of people.”

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• \n

  Trump also implored Republican lawmakers to win the upcoming midterms, saying that Democrats would impeach him if they won control of Congress. Trump also gave several policy points for House GOP to double down on when campaigning, encouraging them to “own” healthcare. “Figure it out. Let the money go directly to the people,” he said, referring to his own preference to give low-income enrollees the money in health savings accounts to use for medical expenses.

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• \n

  The president also used his speech to double down on election conspiracies. He made several baseless comments that elections in the US are “crooked” or “corrupt”. Trump repeated the falsehood that the 2020 election was “rigged” – a claim that has added weight given the five-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection.

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• \n

  Trump also paid tribute to the late Doug LaMalfa, a California Republican who died at age 65, according to statements from GOP officials. LaMalfa represented the state’s rural northern region in the House of Representatives and was known for his work on water and forestry policy. His death means that Republicans have a 218 member majority in the lower chamber, compared to 213 Democrats.

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• \n

  Dozens of supporters of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which included pardoned rioters, descended on Washington today. Later, a brawl erupted after a counter-protester used a bullhorn to interrupt speeches. One attendee tried to wrestle the bullhorn out of the protester’s hands while she called those present “traitors”. Eventually, she was handcuffed by the police. Many of those at today’s march, said that they were there to protest against the death of Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was killed by Capitol police on the day of the attack.

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• \n

  At the US Capitol earlier, Democrats held a hearing commemorating the anniversary of the insurrection. House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said that Donald Trump and “far-right extremists in Congress have repeatedly attempted to rewrite history and whitewash the horrific events of January 6”. Several other Democratic lawmakers issued sharp statements and criticism of the Trump administration on today’s anniversary.

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At a march held by dozens of supporters of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which included pardoned rioters, a brawl erupted after a counter-protester used a bullhorn to interrupt speeches. One attendee tried to wrestle the bullhorn out of the protester’s hands while she called those present “traitors”. Eventually, she was handcuffed by the police.

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Tarrio speaks during a rally ahead of a memorial march, marking five years since the attack on the US Capitol, 6 January 2026.”,”caption”:”Enrique Tarrio speaks during a rally ahead of a memorial march, marking five years since the attack on the US Capitol, 6 January 2026.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Many of those at today’s march, including Enrique Tarrio – the former Proud Boys leader who was convicted and later pardoned for his role in the January 6 insurrection – said that they were there to protest against the death of Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was killed by Capitol police on the day of the attack.

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Donald Trump implored Republican lawmakers to win the upcoming midterms while delivering an address that’s lasted almost an hour and a half. “If we don’t win the midterms … they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” Trump said of Democrats. “We don’t impeach them, you know why, because they’re meaner than we are. We should have impeached Joe Biden for 100 different things. They are mean and smart, but fortunately for you, they have horrible policy.”

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Earlier, the president pushed several policy points for House GOP to double down on when campaigning. Chief among them: healthcare.

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A reminder that the widely popular Affordable Care Act premium tax credits lapsed at the end of last year, and lawmakers are now in search for a plan to stop healthcare premiums spiking for millions of Americans. Republican House speaker Mike Johnson is expected to bring a vote to the floor this week on a plan by GOP-centrists that would extend the Obamacare subsidies for three years.

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Today, Trump pushed Republicans to “own” healthcare.

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“Figure it out. Let the money go directly to the people,” he said, referring to his own preference to give low-income enrollees the money in health savings accounts to use for medical expenses.

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“You have to let no money for the insurance companies,” Trump told House members today. “They [Democrats] are owned by the insurance companies. You guys don’t get money from the insurance companies. They do. They get a massive amount of money. It’s their biggest donor. They’re going to try and fight you, but they can’t win the fight if you explain it, the money goes directly to the people.”

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Speaking to House Republicans today, Trump teased his upcoming meeting with US oil manufacturing executives this week. “You know what that’s about. We got a lot of oil to drill, which is going to bring down oil prices even further,” the president said, telegraphing his plans to regain control of production in Venezuela.

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Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, opened a hearing commemorating the fifth anniversary of the January 6 attack by strongly criticizing Donald Trump and his Republican allies’ efforts to undercut accountability for the insurrection.

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“Instead of holding those responsible for the attack accountable, Donald Trump and far-right extremists in Congress have repeatedly attempted to rewrite history and whitewash the horrific events of January 6. We will not let that happen,” Jeffries said.

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Trump pardoned almost everyone convicted or facing charges in the attack on his first day in office, and Jeffries noted that many of those went on to be charged with other offenses.

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“It’s been a Trump-inspired crime spree. Why won’t Republicans in Congress condemn this dangerous behavior and ongoing threat to public safety?” Jeffries asked.

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“They refuse to serve as a check and balance on an increasingly out of control executive branch, preferring to be nothing more than a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s extreme agenda. The January 6 violent attack on the Capitol that took place five years ago today was shameful then, it is shameful now, and it will be shameful always and forever.”

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Donald Trump has characterized the weekend strikes on Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, as “amazing” and “brilliant”.

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“It was amazing. And think of it, nobody was killed. And on the other side, a lot of people were killed,” Trump said, noting the large number of Cubans who were killed in attacks. “They knew we were coming, and they were protected, and our guys weren’t. You know, our guys are jumping out of helicopters … it was so brilliant.”

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The president called the operation “brilliant tactically” and “an incredible thing”. He added that the deposed leader, Nicolás Maduro, is a “violent guy”.

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“He gets up there and he tries to imitate my dance a little bit, but he’s a violent guy, and he’s killed millions of people,” Trump said.

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Speaking to House Republicans at their annual retreat, the president also said that lawmakers across the aisle have been reluctant to congratulate the president, despite their ongoing condemnation of Maduro’s regime.

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“At some point they should say, you know, ‘you did a great job’,” Trump said. “Wouldn’t it be good? I would say that if they did a good job, their philosophies are so different, but if they did a good job, I’d be happy for the country. They’ve been after this guy for years and years and years, and he was a violent guy.”

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The president is now addressing GOP House lawmakers at their annual retreat. “You win the presidency, and we sure as hell are having a successful presidency, I will say that,” Trump said in his opening remarks. “There’s been nothing like what we’re doing. We had a very good day two days ago too,” he added, seemingly referring to the strikes in Venezuela that resulted in the capture and arrest of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

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Trump went on to express his condolences at the death of California congressman Doug LaMalfa.

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“A true defender of American children. He was a defender of everybody,” the president added. “And our hearts go out to his wife, Jill, and his entire family.”

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Trump addresses a House Republican retreat, 06 January 2026.”,”caption”:”Donald Trump addresses a House Republican retreat, 06 January 2026.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1767712294000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”10.11 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1767712799000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”10.19 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1767712800000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”10.20 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”10.20″,”title”:”Donald Trump addresses House Republicans at annual retreat”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Tue 6 Jan 2026 22.00 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Mon 5 Jan 2026 23.34 EST”},{“id”:”695d20cc8f08189717ef38bf”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Several of the Trump administration’s top officials will brief all Senate lawmakers on Capitol Hill tomorrow. This comes as the same group, including secretary of state Marco Rubio, attorney general Pam Bondi, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Dan Caine, spoke with a small group of congressional leaders on Monday about the military operation in Venezuela.

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The Reuters news agency has a quick snap saying that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s movement has demanded the release of all political prisoners after the US’s capture of Nicolás Maduro.

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“Those who unjustly hold the civilian and military political prisoners should free them immediately,” the Vente Venezuela movement said of political detainees, whom a leading local rights group puts at 863.

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Machado’s movement is widely believed to have beaten Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election, which many countries, including the US, rejected the official result of.

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Many people were imprisoned for protesting Maduro’s declaration of victory or for participating in the opposition’s electoral campaign.

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Amy Hawkins is the Guardian’s senior China correspondent

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China’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday that the trial of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in New York “severely violat[ed] Venezuela’s national sovereignty” and undermined the stability of international relations.

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The comments came the day after a China-backed emergency meeting at the UN Security Council in which countries condemned the US’s military operation to capture Maduro as illegal.

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Venezuela is a key China ally in Latin America. The South American country has received over $100bn in Chinese loans and Maduro’s last meeting was with a Chinese delegation visiting Caracas, who he greeted hours before he was captured by US forces.

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A spokesperson for the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, has said it is “clear” that the US military operation to capture Maduro and his wife over the weekend “undermined a fundamental principle of international law”.

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In a statement, the spokesperson said Türk, a career UN official and human rights lawyer, is “deeply worried” about the “situation in Venezuela”, which has left many Venezuelans fearful as the country’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, starts presiding under the apparent supervision of Washington, with Trump vowing to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry with the help of America’s biggest oil companies.

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Here is more of the statement issued by the spokesperson for the UN high commissioner for human rights:

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\n

It is clear that the operation undermined a fundamental principle of international law – that states must not threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.

\n

The US has justified its intervention on the grounds of the Venezuelan government’s longstanding and appalling human rights record, but accountability for human rights violations cannot be achieved by unilateral military intervention in violation of international law. The people of Venezuela deserve accountability through a fair, victim-centred process.

\n

As has been clear in the UN Human Rights Office’s consistent reporting on the continued deterioration of the situation in Venezuela for about a decade, the rights of the Venezuelan people have been violated for too long. We fear that the current instability and further militarisation in the country resulting from the US intervention will only make the situation worse.

\n

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Adam Gabbatt is a writer and presenter for Guardian US, based in New York

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When Nicolás Maduro appeared in court in New York on Monday, his choice of lawyer quickly raised eyebrows.

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The captured Venezuelan president was accompanied by Barry Pollack, a top-tier US trial lawyer who spent years representing Julian Assange, eventually securing the WikiLeaks founder’s release from prison in the UK in 2024.

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Pollack is a partner at Harris St Laurent & Wechsler, a law firm based on New York’s Wall Street in the financial district of lower Manhattan, just a few minutes walk from the federal court where Maduro pleaded not guilty to criminal charges on Monday.

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Barry Pollack speaks in Canberra, Australia, on 26 June 2024.”,”caption”:”Lawyer Barry Pollack speaks in Canberra, Australia, on 26 June 2024.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Pollack will take on a case as Maduro’s private counsel that could prove to be just as challenging as that of Assange. Maduro was charged on Monday with drug-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices, with the US government labelling Maduro a “narco-terrorist” and an “illegitimate president”. He faces up to life in prison.

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Harris St Laurent & Wechsler did not respond to requests for comment about Pollack’s involvement, but it is clear that in the legal world, he is highly regarded. According to Chambers USA, Pollack is a “thorough and deep-thinking lawyer” who “lives, breathes and sleeps trials, and has such a natural way in front of juries”.

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You can read the full story here:

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In the UK, the health secretary Wes Streeting has defended Keir Starmer’s cautious response to the US attack in Venezuela despite MPs wanting the prime minister to condemn what is seen as an operation against a sovereign country in violation of international law.

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Starmer, always keen to keep on the good side of the US, has declined to criticise the US military operation over the weekend, unlike several Labour MPs including Emily Thornberry, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee.

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Streeting told BBC Breakfast this morning that he had “enormous respect” for Thornberry, who was “right” to speak “honestly and candidly” about her view (that the lack of western condemnation could embolden China and Russia to take similar action against other countries).

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But he added:

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\n

The prime minister and the foreign secretary have a different role and responsibility, and their words carry different weight.

\n

And what I can tell you is that at every moment in recent days, since the US action in Venezuela, the prime minister has judged what he says and when he says it with one overriding consideration, which is how to make a challenging situation better, not worse, and how to do so in a way that protects the UK’s national interests, our collective security, particularly in Europe at a difficult time, and also the best interests of the people of Venezuela who have the right to choose their own leaders and who governs them.

\n

That’s what the prime minister has been doing, and I appreciate there are others who have been more strident and have been more critical of the United States.

\n

The prime minister has a different responsibility, and he is choosing his words carefully and wisely to try and influence how events unfold from here on.

\n

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Welcome to our live coverage of the continuing aftermath of the US military’s weekend raid on Venezuela and removal of president Nicolás Maduro from power.

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Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace prize winner María Corina Machado has said in her first televised interview since then that she hasn’t spoken to Donald Trump since October 2025.

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“Actually, I spoke with president Trump on October 10, the same day the [Nobel Peace] prize was announced, [but] not since then,” Machado said on Fox News. Machado – widely seen as Maduro’s most credible opponent – left Venezuela last month to travel to Norway to accept the award and hasn’t returned since.

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“I’m planning to go as soon as possible back home,” she told Fox when asked about her plans to return to Venezuela.

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Trump on Saturday dismissed the idea of working with Machado, saying: “She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.” US media reported on Monday that a classified CIA assessment presented to Trump concluded that senior Maduro loyalists, including interim president Delcy Rodríguez, were best positioned to maintain stability.

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Despite this, Machado welcomed the US actions as “a huge step for humanity, for freedom and human dignity”.

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Rodríguez (in green) is sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president on Monday after Maduro’s capture by US forces”,”caption”:”Delcy Rodríguez (in green) is sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president on Monday after Maduro’s capture by US forces. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Marcelo Garcia/Miraflores Palace/Reuters”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

In other key developments:

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\n
• \n

  Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the US House, emerged from a classified briefing for congressional leaders insisting that “we are not at war” and “this is not a regime change” but “a demand for a change of behaviour by a regime”.

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• \n

  Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic minority leader, expressed discontent with the briefing, calling the Trump administration’s “plan for the US ‘running Venezuela’ … vague, based on wishful thinking and unsatisfying”.

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• \n

  The reported appearance of unidentified drones over the presidential palace in Venezuela’s capital on Monday night filled the night sky with the sound of heavy gunfire and tracer fire as the regime’s security forces reacted to what they mistook for another raid.

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• \n

  Trump suggested to NBC News that US taxpayers could fund the rebuilding of Venezuela’s infrastructure for extracting and shipping oil. “A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue.”

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• \n

  White House adviser Stephen Miller reaffirmed to CNN the Trump administration’s position on Greenland becoming a part of the US.

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Key events