DOJ Investigating Deranged Conspiracy on Venezuela and 2020 Election
Donald Trump’s Justice Department takes seriously investigate absurd claims that Venezuela rigged the 2020 presidential election.
Two individuals promoting the conspiracy theory, Gary Berntsen and Martin Rodil, were in frequent contact with Puerto Rico’s U.S. Attorney, W. Stephen Muldrow, and provided documents and witnesses to other government officials. The guardian reports. A federal task force based in Tampa, Fla., that studies drug trafficking and money laundering in Venezuela, has also interviewed proponents of the theory.
Trump has refused to admit that he lost the 2020 election, repeatedly claiming it was rigged against him in favor of Joe Biden. His supporters have espoused many theories, from fraudulent ballots to dead voters, and Trump has done everything from having his supporters push fake voters to inciting a riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the day the election was supposed to be certified to Congress.
The Venezuela theory claims that the country controlled electronic voting in the United States through the companies Smartmatic and Dominion, beginning with the late President Hugo Chávez and continuing with his successor, President Nicolás Maduro. This was found to be false in a Delaware court in 2023, and right-wing media outlets Fox News, Newsmax and OAN have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in defamation lawsuits against voting machine companies.
Trump points the finger at Venezuela at a time when his administration is raising tensions with extrajudicial proceedings. airstrikes on boats in waters near the country. The White House also accuses Venezuela’s socialist regime of profiting from shipping drugs north to the United States.
The revival of accusations of electoral fraud against the country could constitute a new justification for military attacks, or even war. The Trump administration has already identified Venezuelan military sites as potential targets, licensed covert CIA action in the country, and even has aircraft carriers stationed in the region.
