Tim Pierce (2:39)

New details have emerged surrounding the daring mission to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.

John Bickley (2:44)

Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has the latest on the strike that shocked the world and its continued fallout. Hey, Cabot. So an unexpectedly wild weekend kept us busy here. There's been some new revelations, some new details that have emerged. Let's start there. What have we learned?

Kevin (2:59)

Yeah, we're starting to get a clearer timeline of what transpired in Caracas, and it is straight out of a Tom Clancy novel. So according to the Pentagon, back in August, the CIA placed a covert team in Venezuela to track Nicholas Maduro's movements and according to General Dan Kane, quote, find out how he moved, where he lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore. So everything about his life. President Trump reportedly approved this operation just before Christmas. But it wasn't until late Friday night that the weather finally cleared and more than 150American aircraft took off from more than 20 different bases across the Western Hemisphere. As helicopters carrying the main extraction team approached the city, a barrage of missiles disabled Venezuela's air defenses. And the capital city also went dark, almost entirely reportedly thanks to a US Cyber attack or something of that nature. Here's Trump hinting at that aspect.

Zoran Mamdani (3:49)

Lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have. It was dark and it was deadly.

Kevin (4:00)

Moments later, a group of special forces operators arrived at Maduro's compound where the tyrannical leader and his wife were ultimately captured as they attempted to open the door of a large ste safe room. By the way, those operators had reportedly built an exact replica of Maduro's safe house so that they could be practicing ahead of time. All told, the entire operation took a little more than two hours. Venezuelan officials say that about 80 soldiers and potentially some civilians were also killed in the fighting. Pentagon officials say that half a dozen American service members were wounded, but thankfully, none killed.

John Bickley (4:31)

Yeah, thankfully indeed, in a point Trump made repeatedly over the weekend. Now, what about Maduro? Where exactly is he now?

Kevin (4:38)

So he and his wife were transported to New York on Saturday and they've already been indicted. The pair now face charges of narco terrorism, conspiracy, cocaine trafficking, possession of illegal weapons. The list goes on. So they have plenty to go on from the prosecuting side. Essentially, he's being treated not as a foreign leader, but a cartel kingpin. Now, for their part, the White House posted a video taunting Maduro With a clip of a recent speech where he was addressing Donald Trump saying, quote, come for me. I'll wait here. Don't take too long. Coward. According to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Maduro will now face, quote, the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts. There is a good chance that his first court appearance will take place within the next 24 hours in New York City. And you can imagine what sort of attention that trial is going to get here over the next year.

John Bickley (5:24)

Yeah, quite a bit, I'm sure. Now, as far as the political fallout to this, what have we seen so far in terms of reactions abroad and at home?

Kevin (5:31)

So the general response from the international community, especially in Europe, was celebration that Maduro's reign had ended, but also concern over the potential implications and the potential again for escalation. Predictably, the harshest criticism came from Venezuelan allies like Cuba and Russia. They condemned the move as a violation of state sovereignty, which in Russia's case, obviously ironic for many reasons. Elsewhere, we saw enormous celebrations among Venezuelan refugee communities across Latin America. And here in the U.S. here's what one of those demonstrations in Florida sounded like this week. Weekend. Come celebrate with us. We love everybody because you, America has loved us so much. So much. Thank you, America. But as you can imagine, not everyone here stateside is celebrating. A long list of prominent Democrats has slammed the attack as unconstitutional, reckless and unnecessary. We heard from Kamala Harris and just a host of other Democrats saying that Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries echoed that sentiment from the left, saying that Venezuela did not pose an immediate danger to the U.S. well, there's been no evidence that the administration has presented to justify the actions that were taken in terms of there being an imminent threat to the health, the safety, the well being, the national security of the American people. Now, in response, the White House says that congressional approval was not needed because this was not, in their view, an act of war, but rather a law enforcement operation to arrest a wanted man. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also argued that they couldn't risk getting pre approval from Congress. People talk a lot in Washington and the concern was that that information would leak and then potentially jeopardize the safety of our service members.

Cameron Arcan (7:08)

Right.

John Bickley (7:09)

And the secrecy of this operation is a major part of this story. Now, the big question, what comes next? There's obviously lots of concerns about how America handles this.

Kevin (7:17)

Yeah, we could spend the whole show talking about that and I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time this week discussing it. President Trump has said the US Plans to quote, run Venezuela until a peaceful transition of power can take place. Obviously, still a lot of questions regarding what exactly he means by that and, and importantly, if US Troops will be involved. In the meantime, Secretary Rubio on Sunday confirmed that the US Would not be running the country's day to day operations, but instead will use the ongoing oil blockade to exert pressure on the Venezuelan government. Over the weekend, Venezuela's Vice president, Delsey Rodriguez was sworn in to replace Maduro. Now, according to Trump, she is essentially, quote, willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again. But in a weekend address to the nation, Rodriguez again pledged loyalty to the Maduro regime, saying, quote, there is only one president in this country and his name is Nicolas Maduro. So there's still plenty of room for more friction here in South America.

John Bickley (8:10)

Yeah, no doubt about that. And we'll be here for all of it. Kevin, thanks for reporting.

Kevin (8:14)

Absolutely.

John Bickley (8:17)

Anti regime protests continue to rock Iran as the government struggles to handle crises at home and internationally.

Tim Pierce (8:23)

Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the state of Iran and the significance of this latest round of unrest. So, Tim, catch us up to speed on the protests in Iran. Where are they happening and who's involved?

Tim Pierce (8:36)

Well, the protests started over a week ago, and when they began, they were largely relegated to merchants in Tehran, but they've since spread around the capital and into dozens of smaller cities and towns across the country. The Tehran merchants were originally angered by the tough economic situation in Iran, fueled by rampant corruption and currency devaluation, as well as sanctions pressure from the United States and the United Nations. But within the past week, the protests have grown larger than just discontent with the economy into calls for regime change. Protesters have chanting phrases such as death to kame and freedom, freedom.

Tim Pierce (9:10)

Now, this isn't the first time we've seen this. Over the past decade, we've seen a handful of protests like this in Iran. What's different about this round?

Tim Pierce (9:18)

A couple things. No matter how they start, these protests have always generally blended into an anti regime demonstration. But this time around, there appears to be a split in what activists want between either democracy or because of a newer nationalist strain in Iran, a return of the Pahavi dynasty and Iran Shah currently in exile. While the other new thing about this current round of protests is that it comes after the Twelve Day War. The Iranian regime was so thoroughly embarrassed and lost so many key people in leadership and among its security forces that it's given the anti regime activists new resolve in these new protests. And it's had an impact on their regime as well. Iranian President Possession admitted last month that concerning Iran's problems, he said, quote, I can't do anything. Don't curse me.

Tim Pierce (10:03)

Now, aside from just this internal unrest, Iran is also facing some international pressure. Tell us about that.

Tim Pierce (10:10)

Yeah, part of that pressure actually ties in with President Trump's recent decision to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is a big ally of Iran and South America. Here's Secretary of State Marco Rubio talking about that on Sunday.

Kevin (10:23)

It's very simple, okay? In the 21st century, under the Trump administration, we are not going to have a country like Venezuela in our own hemisphere in the sphere of control.

John Bickley (10:32)

And the crossroads for Hezbollah, for Iran.

Kevin (10:35)

And for every other malign influence in the world that's just not going to exist.

Tim Pierce (10:39)

According to human rights groups, at least 16 people have been killed during the civil unrest in Iran so far. Trump put out a statement on his True Social on Friday that said if Iran violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. He added that the United States is locked and loaded and ready to go. Trump has, of course, already hit Iran once and did significant damage to its nuclear program in that one operation. And after Maduro's arrest over the weekend, the president's statement should carry a bit more weight for that as well. In addition to the United States, Iran is also facing some outside pressure from Israel, which was largely responsible for bringing the regime to its knees over the summer. Here's Israel's foreign minister expressing solidarity with the Iranian protesters.

Kevin (11:24)

Your protests by women and men, young people and students, mothers and fathers are justified. You have the right for a better future. Be strong and determined. Justice is on your side.

Tim Pierce (11:43)

So the regime increasingly appears boxed in from pressure coming from outside as well as up from below.

Tim Pierce (11:49)

Well, a chilling warning from the president given the events of this weekend. Tim, thanks for reporting.

Tim Pierce (11:53)

Thanks for having me.

Tim Pierce (11:56)

Democratic Socialist Zoran Mamdani was sworn in as the new mayor of New York City on New Year's, and he's already imposing some sweeping changes.

John Bickley (12:05)

Daily Wire political reporter Cameron Arcan joins us with more. Morning, Cameron. So we closely watched this race last year for New York's mayor and documented Mamdani's really far left platform. Now he's in power and is already making waves, correct?

Cameron Arcan (12:19)

Good morning, John. Yes, and it's in many ways that we already predicted. So he's already produced some headline makers after a swearing in where he made a declaration that sounded like it was ripped straight from the Communist Manifesto touting the quote warmth of collectivism over frigid individualism and really prioritizing, prioritizing the role of government.

Zoran Mamdani (12:38)

If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it. Because no matter what you eat, how you pray, or where you come from, the words that most define us are the two we all share. New Yorkers.

Cameron Arcan (12:58)

Now, this is not too shocking considering he quoted socialist leader Eugene Debs in his victory speech last year. He also revoked executive orders from former Mayor Eric Adams after his indictment date. Now, he also signed some orders of his own on housing specifically related to tenant rights. Now, one of his big campaign promises was to freeze rent on many of the city's rental properties.

Zoran Mamdani (13:22)

Those in rent stabilized homes will no longer dread the latest rent hike because we will freeze the rent.

Cameron Arcan (13:30)

We'll see if that ends up coming to fruition. So far, he's already launched two task forces on housing policy and taking inventory of city owned land that could be turned into housing.

John Bickley (13:41)

Now, there were also concerns from the Jewish community about some of Mamdani's initial actions this weekend. What's causing that alarm?

Cameron Arcan (13:48)

Yes, that's right. Now, this was a much discussed issue during the leadup to the election, especially surrounding Mamdani's campaign. The concerns boiled down to two executive orders that were meant to protect Jewish New Yorkers while Mayor Eric Adams was in office, but those have now been revoked. Now, the first was about how anti Semitism is defined, and the second stopped people who worked for the city from backing BDS efforts against Israel. Now, the BDS movement targets Israelis and Israeli owned businesses, demanding divestments and boycotts. The mayor defended his actions by claiming that Jewish groups had, quote, immense concerns around the definition of anti Semitism. He also insisted, according to Politico, that his administration would, quote, be relentless in its efforts to combat hate and division, including anti Semitism. He claims he'll do so by, quote, actually funding hate crime prevention and celebrating our neighbors and practicing a politics of universality. So not too many specifics there just yet, right?

John Bickley (14:49)

The devil's in the details. Always. Now, tying this back to our first segment on Venezuela, Mamdani was also immediately vocal against the Trump administration's capture of the socialist dictator. What did we hear from him on that?

Cameron Arcan (15:02)

Correct. Now, many Democrats opposed the strikes and the capture of Maduro, saying it's a play for oil. The mayor is certainly one of them and he was very vocal right off the bat, like you said. Here he is at a press conference over the weekend telling his supporters that he actually directly protested Maduro's capture.

Zoran Mamdani (15:18)

I called the president and spoke with him directly to register my opposition to this act and to make clear that it was an opposition based on being opposed to a pursuit of regime change.

Cameron Arcan (15:33)

Of course. Later that day, Saturday afternoon, Maduro and his wife were brought to a facility in New York City before they face their trial on narco terrorism charges in the Southern district of New York.

John Bickley (15:44)

All right, so despite his complaints, Mamdani's forced to house the captured dictator.

Cameron Arcan (15:49)

It's a bit ironic for sure.

John Bickley (15:50)

It is. Well, we knew that if he followed through on this campaign rhetoric like he said, he'd be one of America's most far left mayors. He's definitely tracking that way. Cameron, thanks so much for reporting.

Cameron Arcan (15:59)

Thank you.

Tim Pierce (16:00)

Thanks for waking up with us. And for those listening to the show now, you can watch for free on Daily Wire. We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.