January 5, 2026 • 17 mins
BEST OF - Ryan breaks down how the military operation to capture Maduro took place, Florida officials and lawmakers react to strikes on Venezuela. Former Defense Intel Analyst at US SOUTHCOM Brian Fonseca explains the Venezuela military operation and what might come next. National Correspondent Natalie Migliore says Nicolas Maduro is set to appear in Manhattan federal court today. National Correspondent Rory O’Neill explains how the oil markets are reacting to Maduro’s capture. Maduro's capture gives Polymarket, prediction market traders, huge profits.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, sometimes on that first show back at the
start of a new year, not a lot going on
in the news kind of makes the task of putting
that show together a little more difficult. Thank you to
President Trump. Yes, make it really easy this morning. Yeah,
so let's get to all the latest on the situation
with Venezuela. At first, what happened. US forces they carry
(00:22):
out in operation in Caracas. They capture Venezuelan President Nicholas
Muduro and his wife. President Trump announced the mission early Saturday.
Mcdua was flown to the US. He's now in federal
custody in New York. This is how it happened. Trump
authorizes the mission late Friday night. You've got about one
hundred and fifty US aircraft that were launched from around
(00:43):
twenty land and sea bases. This is just another example,
kind of like what we saw with the bombing of
Iran's nuclear facilities. It really is incredible how our US
military is able to coordinate.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
All of this time.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
You had jets, you had bombers, you had drones, helicopters.
They disable the air defenses and they disabled power in
the area. I've got an interesting note on that that
I'll get to coming up. In the six o'clock hour,
Special Forces FBI agents. They fly in low over the
Caribbean helicopters. They took a little fire, one was hit
(01:19):
but managed to stay in the air. Troops breached the
compound just after one am. Maduro and his wife. They
were intercepted as they were trying to get into a
reinforced safe room. So I guess you know, our guys
got there just in time.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, and they just like yanked him out of the air.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Although my guess is we probably have ways of getting
people out of reinforced safe room if we needed to.
US forces they exited Venezuela in airspace within a few hours,
no deaths, a couple of injuries. Trump watched the whole
thing live from mar A Lago as it happened. Then
you get to why did this happen. We'll spend some
time on this throughout the morning. The administration is basically
(01:57):
saying that this is because of drug trafficking and narco
t rorism. That's what Maduro is being charged with in court.
It's a little more complex than that. So, yeah, it's
a lot of moving parts here. What comes next? You've
got Maduro expected to appear in federal court today at noon.
As for who's running Venezuela and now that Maduro's out,
(02:18):
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that basically we are, but.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
They swore in the vice president right.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Trump has said the US is going to oversee a transition.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday the US isn't
going to run Venezuela on a day to day basis.
There's a little confusion about all of that. I think
it's pretty clear we're gonna have to say in what
happens in Venezuela moving forward. And then the reaction here
in Florida, it was essentially what you would expect. Florida Republicans,
very supportive. Florida Democrats for the most part, they noted
(02:49):
they were glad to see Mardua was out of power
in Venezuela, but they were focused a bit more on
whether or not the operation was constitutional in those.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Kinds of quests by Congress.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, all of that. So now I was watching some
of the coverage, monitoring it during the show this morning
of Nicholas Maduro being moved in New York City, very
armored vehicle and you've got the news helicopters overhead kind
of like you know the O. J. Simpson h car chase.
(03:22):
And I'm just wondering, is that a great idea? What
would be showing like the exact location of where where
he's traveling in New York? Like I get it's a
huge motorcade and looked like they had everything secure and
all that, but still.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Like, what do you think is going to happen? Though?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I see in the movies sometimes terrorist.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Stops traffic and somehow manages.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
To rescue him.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
That's right, yes, yes, you know.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
What, we could carry that out in another country, but
nobody's doing that to us.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
That's that's true. We were hoping to talk to a
former defense intelligence analyst at US outcome, Brian Fonseca. Here
we're still trying to get hold of We couldn't get
hold of him in the six o'clock hour. I don't know.
Maybe well it could be that, or maybe he's used
to being contacted through like signal, or you know, maybe
it is something encrypted that we didn't realize. I don't know,
(04:16):
but I think there are so many different angles to
this story. There's the operation itself, which I find to
be the most fascinating, and I was blown away by
what we did. Blown away in the sense it's just
really interesting, not surprising that our military could pull something
(04:36):
like what happened in Iran off or this operation in Menezuela.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
It's like something you would see in a movie. Do
you think that it couldn't ever be real life? And
here it is. It's real life.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Right to coordinate one hundred and fifty different aircraft, you know,
sea and land, and they go in, they tell.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
And I'm sure he has security. Oh yeah, So how
did we get through all that?
Speaker 1 (04:59):
It's amazing turn the power off remotely to fly in
and the cover dard. I just it's incredible. So I
want to get a little bit more on all of that.
All right, we do have Brian Fonseco with us now,
former defense intelligence analyst at UTS Southcom and director of
the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at FIU's
Stephen J. Green School of International Public Affairs. Brian, thank
(05:20):
you so much for joining us this morning. So, you know,
we were just talking about the operation itself, and there's
a report that the CIA had a source in Maduro's
inner circle that helped US forces track his movements in
the final days leading up to his capture. What is
it that stands out to you about what's been made
public so far.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
I mean, first and foremost, the flexing and just incredible
success of the US military is a real testament to
American military muscle. And I think a lot has been
covered in terms of the successful execution of this operation
in which the US Army Special Forces were able to
go in and you know, with seemingly ease, capture Maduro
(06:04):
and get him out of the country. I think one
of the stories you're going to hear more about in
the coming you know, weeks and months is the incredible
intelligence operations that had had to go on for the
last several months to get all of the requisite information
necessary to know the targets, the threats, the routes, I mean,
the geospatial intelligence, the human asolences. To your point, absolutely
(06:27):
there had to have been sources on the ground. I
mean the level of knowledge that we have. Mean, imagine,
we hit the coast, we get into Caracas, we make
entry into the home, and we get them before he
can even you know, make some type of evac That's
incredible I mean that it does suggest that there was
an incredible intelligence apparatus supporting this, not just during the operation,
(06:47):
but in the months proceeding.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
What do we know about the leadership structure in place
in Venezuela right now and how much of a real
hold on power those individuals have.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
So there's three figures that are probably, in my opinion,
the most important. I mean Delsi Rodriguez, who was Maduro's
vice president now sworn in as president, seems to be
playing ball with the United States. She's going to be
the person that the United States is going to lean
on to neutralize or remove all of the other hardliners.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
That associated with with with the regime.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
The other two figures that have prominent roles, and they
have prominent roles because of the influence they have over
security institutions is Ladimiro Progeria Lopez, who is the Minister
of Defense in Diostolekaveo, who has a long tenure in
influence within military and security institutions. Those three, poor Hero Rodriguez,
maybe a few others have pronounced influence in the regime.
(07:43):
They comprise the political and military elite. But I think
it's those three, particularly Deli Diostolica and Progenia Lopez that
are going to be, you know, the crucial figures going forward,
and again I think Delsi's responsibility is to get those
other hardliners under control.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Former defense intelligence analysts that southcoming director of the Jack D.
Gordon Institute for Public Policy at FIU's Steven J. Green
School of International Public Affairs, Brian Fonseca with us. He's
going to be back on with Manny Muno's midday host
on WIOD coming up just after ten o'clock. So if
you want more from Brian, I highly recommend listening to that. Brian,
(08:20):
really appreciate you taking a few minutes to come on
with us this morning. Thanks so much, No, thank you,
all right again, especially the intelligence part we were talking
to Brian about just a few moments ago, having sources
on the grounds feeding that information. Yeah. Yeah, members of
the Venezuelan military apparently cooperated with the US to secure
(08:43):
Maduro's arrest. As we learn more details about all of that,
I think it's going to be really really interesting. Let's
go to the hotline and bring in our national correspondent,
Natalie Migliori this morning. Natalie, thanks so much for taking
a few minutes to join us to give you a preview,
to give us a preview of Venezuela and President Nicholas
and Durero's appearance in federal court that's supposed to happen
today at noon, right.
Speaker 6 (09:04):
Yeah, good morning, Ryan, of course. And yes it's happening
at noon. But media is setting up and people are
already waiting in line to get into court all these
hours out.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Of it, Ryan, So people can can get into the
courtroom for this, not just like media and attorneys and
all of that.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Yes, people could get into the courtroom, but a lot
of times media companies will pay people to wait in line.
Here in New York, And let me tell you, there
are a couple of dozen tens saying wait, pay to wait,
and people will then replace those line waiters. They're literally
professional line waiters to get in line. But yeah, a
lot of my freelance friends, a lot of freelance journalists
(09:45):
are already online waiting to get in because then they'll
pitch the story later on Ryan.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Like that's what they did with Luigi Man those things. Yeah,
probably wanted to be there for a different reason. It
was a lot of Mangioni fans that wanted to get
a glimpse of.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
From the court.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I don't think I could do that even I was
getting paid. I'm too impatient. I can't stand at all. Line,
A lot of.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
That's crazy.
Speaker 6 (10:08):
Better bring a portable charger, if you know what I.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Mean, right, and a diaper, depending on how long you
have to be out there.
Speaker 6 (10:15):
Yeah, a lot of people they do wait online. But hey, listen, Maduro,
he's going to be in court with his wife Celia
Flores today. They're both going to be getting read there
formal charges and then it's thought that they'll be detained
again still and brought back behind bars, and they're staying
in Manhattan Detention Center, which you know is storied, as
(10:36):
you guys mentioned. Luigi Mancioni stayed there, and you know
Diddy stayed there before he was transferred to federal court
and after he was after he was convicted. So it's
really a story jail. And people have been outside all
weekend really protesting, whether in favor or against the the
(10:56):
the military presence that you're the military opera that the
US had conducted against Venezuela, and people are saying they're
going to be outside there at the Brooklyn Jail. So
you can only imagine what's going to happen once they
arrive here before noon, because that's when the arraignment is
at to take place.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
It's going to be quite a scene. Natalie Miglia are
national correspondent with US this morning. Natalie, thanks so much,
thank you. I mean, you could have some of those
people who were wearing an adult tiper for New Year's
Eve out in Times Square, they could just shift right
over to the courthouse.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
They wait in line with one freezing in New York
time too.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
So Manduro he's facing multiple charges including narco terrorism, conspiracy,
cocaine importation, conspiracy, and weapons offenses. One thing that wasn't
in the indictment because you're hearing a lot from the
President and the Department of Justice about fentanyl and Venezuela's
(11:50):
role in dealing and transporting fentanyl. Fennal's not mentioned anywhere
in the actual indictment itself. The case is more focused
on cocaine and then you know institutional corruption things like that.
Let's bring in our national correspondent Rory O'Neill, who supports
Bronci by Mark Spain real estate. So Rory I gotta
(12:12):
tell you. When I saw the news that Maduro was captured,
I said to myself, Right, this is how the year
is going to start. It should be an interesting one.
I mean, right from the beginning boom, major headline.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
Yeah, pretty significant as well, because there are so many
questions that are unanswered, like what is next? And look,
I have a habit of watching all those Sunday morning shows.
My DVR smokes because of all the stuff I'm flipping
back and forth to see. But I thought George Stephanopolos
asked the question of Marco Rubio, who didn't give a
(12:48):
great answer of under what legal authority do we now
control Venezuela. Understanding that okay, but Duro is a fugitive
bad guy, narco terist. All right, we arrested them and
his wife. Fine, but then where do we get the
authority to say and now we're running your country?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah? I think this is one of those situations. And
I think there are legitimate constitutional questions about this action.
I'm not saying that it was unconstitutional.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
I just think.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
There's a legitimate debate yeah, to be had. And it's
not because it's Trump. It's just in terms of the
president a president having that kind of power to make
that kind of a move without Congress. But putting that aside,
I think this is one of those situations where Trump says, yeah,
we're running it. Yeah, we're going to be involved. Yeah,
we're basically, you know, in charge of Venezuela. And I
(13:41):
think it says a way to make sure that the
actual people running Venezuela right now are on.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Board with are going to do what he wants.
Speaker 7 (13:53):
Yeah, yeah, all right, Who is commander in chief of
the Venezuelan military, Well, right now.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Good question.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
I mean, technically it would probably be their vice president. Yes,
she was sworn in as president.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
But I think it's Trump.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Yeah, I don't think she really has any power.
Speaker 7 (14:09):
Yeah, I think, but Viceroy, the Vice roy of Venezuela,
Mark or Rubio accordingly.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, exactly right. I think that seems in charge of
any decisions the military might make right now. So it's
kind of one of those deals. I don't think we're
actually gonna run Venezuela, but I think we're gonna have
a say to make sure that it doesn't fall back
into the same kind of setup that we saw in
recent years with Nicholas Maduro what about gas and oil prices?
(14:36):
Could there be a big change there because of all
of this.
Speaker 7 (14:40):
Well, it's funny, though, we really haven't seen much of
a swing. You know, typically, if there's any bad news
as it relates to oil, boom, price of oil goes
up ten bucks barrel.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
You and I are paying fifty cents more gallon.
Speaker 7 (14:52):
And it takes weeks for that price to come back
down after they say, oh, it's nothing at all. In
this case, though, we're seeing oil prices are pretty flat,
so we're not getting much of a signal of anything.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
But you know what.
Speaker 7 (15:03):
The President also says that the American oil companies are
ready to invest billions of dollars into Venezuela.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
You just say, hold on a second.
Speaker 7 (15:11):
Now, because oil is trading as we speak at fifty
seven dollars sixty three cents a barrel.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That's not a lot. I mean, these oil companies like
it to be closer to eighty eighty five.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So if I'm exon Mobile or you.
Speaker 7 (15:24):
Know, American Oil Company USA, why am I spending ten
billion dollars to increase the supply and bring the price
down more?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, And you can just ask Tommy Norris from landman.
I mean, they'll tell you all about where the price
of oil needs to be for them to make money.
Let me get to another story, time to Venezuela that
I just find really really interesting. Traders on prediction markets
made huge profits after the US captured Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro.
(15:54):
Now his capture, I thought it was surprising, but not
shocking if you had been paying attention. And this goes
all the way back to Mark Capudo from Axios had
a report on this back in January of twenty twenty five.
The Trump administration wanted to remove Maduro, especially Secretary of
(16:15):
State Marco Rubio. So it was surprising just that like
it happened.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah, exactly, but it wasn't completely shocking.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Right right now. Some traders appeared to anticipate the move,
like the timing. To me, I don't know, I just
when I saw the news, I'm like, oh, wow, that happened.
I wouldn't have guessed that it was happening that day
or yeah, well the.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Way these people cashed in on it and seemed to
really know the timing. And ye, wasn't there a thirty
thousand dollars bet place?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yep?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Right, before it happened.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
I mean, that's somebody who had a little bit of
insigner information.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
So they made four hundred and fifty thousand.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Dollars on Friday night betting odds on Maduro losing power.
They jumped way up, so they were in the low
single digits for weeks. You had a newly created account
wagering about thirty thousand on Maduro's exit, and like you said,
Dana walks away with more than four hundred and fifty
thousand after the news broke and most of the activity
(17:15):
centered on polymarket. And you can vote on all kinds
of Venezuela and things right now, like will the US
invade Venezuela by January thirty first? You can bet on that.
Who's the leader going to be the end of twenty
twenty six? You can bet on that, Will there be
another US strike on Venezuela by say January tenth?
Speaker 7 (17:35):
You can?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I mean it's crazy what you can bet on, but yeah,
that bet.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
The time, timing knowing and putting that much money on it. Yeah,
somebody knew something questionable.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
The Ryan Gorman Show on news radio WFLA.
Speaker 7 (17:51):
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show
and find us online at Ryangormanshow dot com.
You know, sometimes on that first show back at the
start of a new year, not a lot going on
in the news kind of makes the task of putting
that show together a little more difficult. Thank you to
President Trump. Yes, make it really easy this morning. Yeah,
so let's get to all the latest on the situation
with Venezuela. At first, what happened. US forces they carry
(00:22):
out in operation in Caracas. They capture Venezuelan President Nicholas
Muduro and his wife. President Trump announced the mission early Saturday.
Mcdua was flown to the US. He's now in federal
custody in New York. This is how it happened. Trump
authorizes the mission late Friday night. You've got about one
hundred and fifty US aircraft that were launched from around
(00:43):
twenty land and sea bases. This is just another example,
kind of like what we saw with the bombing of
Iran's nuclear facilities. It really is incredible how our US
military is able to coordinate.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
All of this time.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
You had jets, you had bombers, you had drones, helicopters.
They disable the air defenses and they disabled power in
the area. I've got an interesting note on that that
I'll get to coming up. In the six o'clock hour,
Special Forces FBI agents. They fly in low over the
Caribbean helicopters. They took a little fire, one was hit
(01:19):
but managed to stay in the air. Troops breached the
compound just after one am. Maduro and his wife. They
were intercepted as they were trying to get into a
reinforced safe room. So I guess you know, our guys
got there just in time.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, and they just like yanked him out of the air.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Although my guess is we probably have ways of getting
people out of reinforced safe room if we needed to.
US forces they exited Venezuela in airspace within a few hours,
no deaths, a couple of injuries. Trump watched the whole
thing live from mar A Lago as it happened. Then
you get to why did this happen. We'll spend some
time on this throughout the morning. The administration is basically
(01:57):
saying that this is because of drug trafficking and narco
t rorism. That's what Maduro is being charged with in court.
It's a little more complex than that. So, yeah, it's
a lot of moving parts here. What comes next? You've
got Maduro expected to appear in federal court today at noon.
As for who's running Venezuela and now that Maduro's out,
(02:18):
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that basically we are, but.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
They swore in the vice president right.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Trump has said the US is going to oversee a transition.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday the US isn't
going to run Venezuela on a day to day basis.
There's a little confusion about all of that. I think
it's pretty clear we're gonna have to say in what
happens in Venezuela moving forward. And then the reaction here
in Florida, it was essentially what you would expect. Florida Republicans,
very supportive. Florida Democrats for the most part, they noted
(02:49):
they were glad to see Mardua was out of power
in Venezuela, but they were focused a bit more on
whether or not the operation was constitutional in those.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Kinds of quests by Congress.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, all of that. So now I was watching some
of the coverage, monitoring it during the show this morning
of Nicholas Maduro being moved in New York City, very
armored vehicle and you've got the news helicopters overhead kind
of like you know the O. J. Simpson h car chase.
(03:22):
And I'm just wondering, is that a great idea? What
would be showing like the exact location of where where
he's traveling in New York? Like I get it's a
huge motorcade and looked like they had everything secure and
all that, but still.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Like, what do you think is going to happen? Though?
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I see in the movies sometimes terrorist.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Stops traffic and somehow manages.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
To rescue him.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
That's right, yes, yes, you know.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
What, we could carry that out in another country, but
nobody's doing that to us.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
That's that's true. We were hoping to talk to a
former defense intelligence analyst at US outcome, Brian Fonseca. Here
we're still trying to get hold of We couldn't get
hold of him in the six o'clock hour. I don't know.
Maybe well it could be that, or maybe he's used
to being contacted through like signal, or you know, maybe
it is something encrypted that we didn't realize. I don't know,
(04:16):
but I think there are so many different angles to
this story. There's the operation itself, which I find to
be the most fascinating, and I was blown away by
what we did. Blown away in the sense it's just
really interesting, not surprising that our military could pull something
(04:36):
like what happened in Iran off or this operation in Menezuela.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
It's like something you would see in a movie. Do
you think that it couldn't ever be real life? And
here it is. It's real life.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Right to coordinate one hundred and fifty different aircraft, you know,
sea and land, and they go in, they tell.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
And I'm sure he has security. Oh yeah, So how
did we get through all that?
Speaker 1 (04:59):
It's amazing turn the power off remotely to fly in
and the cover dard. I just it's incredible. So I
want to get a little bit more on all of that.
All right, we do have Brian Fonseco with us now,
former defense intelligence analyst at UTS Southcom and director of
the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at FIU's
Stephen J. Green School of International Public Affairs. Brian, thank
(05:20):
you so much for joining us this morning. So, you know,
we were just talking about the operation itself, and there's
a report that the CIA had a source in Maduro's
inner circle that helped US forces track his movements in
the final days leading up to his capture. What is
it that stands out to you about what's been made
public so far.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
I mean, first and foremost, the flexing and just incredible
success of the US military is a real testament to
American military muscle. And I think a lot has been
covered in terms of the successful execution of this operation
in which the US Army Special Forces were able to
go in and you know, with seemingly ease, capture Maduro
(06:04):
and get him out of the country. I think one
of the stories you're going to hear more about in
the coming you know, weeks and months is the incredible
intelligence operations that had had to go on for the
last several months to get all of the requisite information
necessary to know the targets, the threats, the routes, I mean,
the geospatial intelligence, the human asolences. To your point, absolutely
(06:27):
there had to have been sources on the ground. I
mean the level of knowledge that we have. Mean, imagine,
we hit the coast, we get into Caracas, we make
entry into the home, and we get them before he
can even you know, make some type of evac That's
incredible I mean that it does suggest that there was
an incredible intelligence apparatus supporting this, not just during the operation,
(06:47):
but in the months proceeding.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
What do we know about the leadership structure in place
in Venezuela right now and how much of a real
hold on power those individuals have.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
So there's three figures that are probably, in my opinion,
the most important. I mean Delsi Rodriguez, who was Maduro's
vice president now sworn in as president, seems to be
playing ball with the United States. She's going to be
the person that the United States is going to lean
on to neutralize or remove all of the other hardliners.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
That associated with with with the regime.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
The other two figures that have prominent roles, and they
have prominent roles because of the influence they have over
security institutions is Ladimiro Progeria Lopez, who is the Minister
of Defense in Diostolekaveo, who has a long tenure in
influence within military and security institutions. Those three, poor Hero Rodriguez,
maybe a few others have pronounced influence in the regime.
(07:43):
They comprise the political and military elite. But I think
it's those three, particularly Deli Diostolica and Progenia Lopez that
are going to be, you know, the crucial figures going forward,
and again I think Delsi's responsibility is to get those
other hardliners under control.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Former defense intelligence analysts that southcoming director of the Jack D.
Gordon Institute for Public Policy at FIU's Steven J. Green
School of International Public Affairs, Brian Fonseca with us. He's
going to be back on with Manny Muno's midday host
on WIOD coming up just after ten o'clock. So if
you want more from Brian, I highly recommend listening to that. Brian,
(08:20):
really appreciate you taking a few minutes to come on
with us this morning. Thanks so much, No, thank you,
all right again, especially the intelligence part we were talking
to Brian about just a few moments ago, having sources
on the grounds feeding that information. Yeah. Yeah, members of
the Venezuelan military apparently cooperated with the US to secure
(08:43):
Maduro's arrest. As we learn more details about all of that,
I think it's going to be really really interesting. Let's
go to the hotline and bring in our national correspondent,
Natalie Migliori this morning. Natalie, thanks so much for taking
a few minutes to join us to give you a preview,
to give us a preview of Venezuela and President Nicholas
and Durero's appearance in federal court that's supposed to happen
today at noon, right.
Speaker 6 (09:04):
Yeah, good morning, Ryan, of course. And yes it's happening
at noon. But media is setting up and people are
already waiting in line to get into court all these
hours out.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Of it, Ryan, So people can can get into the
courtroom for this, not just like media and attorneys and
all of that.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Yes, people could get into the courtroom, but a lot
of times media companies will pay people to wait in line.
Here in New York, And let me tell you, there
are a couple of dozen tens saying wait, pay to wait,
and people will then replace those line waiters. They're literally
professional line waiters to get in line. But yeah, a
lot of my freelance friends, a lot of freelance journalists
(09:45):
are already online waiting to get in because then they'll
pitch the story later on Ryan.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Like that's what they did with Luigi Man those things. Yeah,
probably wanted to be there for a different reason. It
was a lot of Mangioni fans that wanted to get
a glimpse of.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
From the court.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I don't think I could do that even I was
getting paid. I'm too impatient. I can't stand at all. Line,
A lot of.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
That's crazy.
Speaker 6 (10:08):
Better bring a portable charger, if you know what I.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Mean, right, and a diaper, depending on how long you
have to be out there.
Speaker 6 (10:15):
Yeah, a lot of people they do wait online. But hey, listen, Maduro,
he's going to be in court with his wife Celia
Flores today. They're both going to be getting read there
formal charges and then it's thought that they'll be detained
again still and brought back behind bars, and they're staying
in Manhattan Detention Center, which you know is storied, as
(10:36):
you guys mentioned. Luigi Mancioni stayed there, and you know
Diddy stayed there before he was transferred to federal court
and after he was after he was convicted. So it's
really a story jail. And people have been outside all
weekend really protesting, whether in favor or against the the
(10:56):
the military presence that you're the military opera that the
US had conducted against Venezuela, and people are saying they're
going to be outside there at the Brooklyn Jail. So
you can only imagine what's going to happen once they
arrive here before noon, because that's when the arraignment is
at to take place.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
It's going to be quite a scene. Natalie Miglia are
national correspondent with US this morning. Natalie, thanks so much,
thank you. I mean, you could have some of those
people who were wearing an adult tiper for New Year's
Eve out in Times Square, they could just shift right
over to the courthouse.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
They wait in line with one freezing in New York
time too.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
So Manduro he's facing multiple charges including narco terrorism, conspiracy,
cocaine importation, conspiracy, and weapons offenses. One thing that wasn't
in the indictment because you're hearing a lot from the
President and the Department of Justice about fentanyl and Venezuela's
(11:50):
role in dealing and transporting fentanyl. Fennal's not mentioned anywhere
in the actual indictment itself. The case is more focused
on cocaine and then you know institutional corruption things like that.
Let's bring in our national correspondent Rory O'Neill, who supports
Bronci by Mark Spain real estate. So Rory I gotta
(12:12):
tell you. When I saw the news that Maduro was captured,
I said to myself, Right, this is how the year
is going to start. It should be an interesting one.
I mean, right from the beginning boom, major headline.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
Yeah, pretty significant as well, because there are so many
questions that are unanswered, like what is next? And look,
I have a habit of watching all those Sunday morning shows.
My DVR smokes because of all the stuff I'm flipping
back and forth to see. But I thought George Stephanopolos
asked the question of Marco Rubio, who didn't give a
(12:48):
great answer of under what legal authority do we now
control Venezuela. Understanding that okay, but Duro is a fugitive
bad guy, narco terist. All right, we arrested them and
his wife. Fine, but then where do we get the
authority to say and now we're running your country?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah? I think this is one of those situations. And
I think there are legitimate constitutional questions about this action.
I'm not saying that it was unconstitutional.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
I just think.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
There's a legitimate debate yeah, to be had. And it's
not because it's Trump. It's just in terms of the
president a president having that kind of power to make
that kind of a move without Congress. But putting that aside,
I think this is one of those situations where Trump says, yeah,
we're running it. Yeah, we're going to be involved. Yeah,
we're basically, you know, in charge of Venezuela. And I
(13:41):
think it says a way to make sure that the
actual people running Venezuela right now are on.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Board with are going to do what he wants.
Speaker 7 (13:53):
Yeah, yeah, all right, Who is commander in chief of
the Venezuelan military, Well, right now.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Good question.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
I mean, technically it would probably be their vice president. Yes,
she was sworn in as president.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
But I think it's Trump.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Yeah, I don't think she really has any power.
Speaker 7 (14:09):
Yeah, I think, but Viceroy, the Vice roy of Venezuela,
Mark or Rubio accordingly.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, exactly right. I think that seems in charge of
any decisions the military might make right now. So it's
kind of one of those deals. I don't think we're
actually gonna run Venezuela, but I think we're gonna have
a say to make sure that it doesn't fall back
into the same kind of setup that we saw in
recent years with Nicholas Maduro what about gas and oil prices?
(14:36):
Could there be a big change there because of all
of this.
Speaker 7 (14:40):
Well, it's funny, though, we really haven't seen much of
a swing. You know, typically, if there's any bad news
as it relates to oil, boom, price of oil goes
up ten bucks barrel.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
You and I are paying fifty cents more gallon.
Speaker 7 (14:52):
And it takes weeks for that price to come back
down after they say, oh, it's nothing at all. In
this case, though, we're seeing oil prices are pretty flat,
so we're not getting much of a signal of anything.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
But you know what.
Speaker 7 (15:03):
The President also says that the American oil companies are
ready to invest billions of dollars into Venezuela.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
You just say, hold on a second.
Speaker 7 (15:11):
Now, because oil is trading as we speak at fifty
seven dollars sixty three cents a barrel.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That's not a lot. I mean, these oil companies like
it to be closer to eighty eighty five.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So if I'm exon Mobile or you.
Speaker 7 (15:24):
Know, American Oil Company USA, why am I spending ten
billion dollars to increase the supply and bring the price
down more?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, And you can just ask Tommy Norris from landman.
I mean, they'll tell you all about where the price
of oil needs to be for them to make money.
Let me get to another story, time to Venezuela that
I just find really really interesting. Traders on prediction markets
made huge profits after the US captured Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro.
(15:54):
Now his capture, I thought it was surprising, but not
shocking if you had been paying attention. And this goes
all the way back to Mark Capudo from Axios had
a report on this back in January of twenty twenty five.
The Trump administration wanted to remove Maduro, especially Secretary of
(16:15):
State Marco Rubio. So it was surprising just that like
it happened.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah, exactly, but it wasn't completely shocking.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Right right now. Some traders appeared to anticipate the move,
like the timing. To me, I don't know, I just
when I saw the news, I'm like, oh, wow, that happened.
I wouldn't have guessed that it was happening that day
or yeah, well the.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Way these people cashed in on it and seemed to
really know the timing. And ye, wasn't there a thirty
thousand dollars bet place?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yep?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Right, before it happened.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
I mean, that's somebody who had a little bit of
insigner information.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
So they made four hundred and fifty thousand.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Dollars on Friday night betting odds on Maduro losing power.
They jumped way up, so they were in the low
single digits for weeks. You had a newly created account
wagering about thirty thousand on Maduro's exit, and like you said,
Dana walks away with more than four hundred and fifty
thousand after the news broke and most of the activity
(17:15):
centered on polymarket. And you can vote on all kinds
of Venezuela and things right now, like will the US
invade Venezuela by January thirty first? You can bet on that.
Who's the leader going to be the end of twenty
twenty six? You can bet on that, Will there be
another US strike on Venezuela by say January tenth?
Speaker 7 (17:35):
You can?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I mean it's crazy what you can bet on, but yeah,
that bet.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
The time, timing knowing and putting that much money on it. Yeah,
somebody knew something questionable.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
The Ryan Gorman Show on news radio WFLA.
Speaker 7 (17:51):
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show
and find us online at Ryangormanshow dot com.
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