Scoop: Trump expected to meet with Venezuela's new leader
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Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez gives a press conference after the signing of an oil agreement with the United States in Caracas on September 2. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)
President Trump is making plans for a first-ever meeting with Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, as early as next week, sources familiar with the discussions tell Axios.
Why it matters: The potential meeting showcases the close relations between the nations under Trump. But it's also fraught with political risks that extend from Miami to Caracas.
Driving the news: Trump is already planning to meet with Gulf leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York next week to discuss the Iran War, and those who know his thinking say he wants to make time for a sidelines sit-down with Rodriguez as early as Tuesday, sources said.
- "Iran is tough, but Venezuela is without a doubt the president's top success and Delcy is a key to that," a Trump adviser said. "Unless something goes really wrong, the president wants to make time."
- A senior administration official cautioned: "Nothing is finalized. This is up to the president."
- On Sunday, when asked about meeting Rodriguez, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that "I may be, I may be."
Zoom in: The New York City meeting could happen just blocks from the federal lockup where Rodriguez's predecessor and onetime ally, socialist Nicolas Maduro, awaits trial on narco-terrorism charges.
- Maduro was seized Jan. 3 in Caracas in a U.S. military operation authorized by Trump.
- Rodriguez assumed power after the coup and has worked closely with Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to normalize relations between the countries, including the inking of a massive but controversial Venezuelan oil deal first reported by Axios.
Friction point: Clustered in South Florida, conservative and vocal Venezuelan exile community has expressed increasing agitation with the administration for working so closely with Rodriguez, a lifelong socialist who rose to power along with Maduro under strongman Hugo Chavez, both foes of the U.S. this century.
- Adding to the anger in the diaspora: neither Trump nor Rubio has called for elections in Venezuela, despite years of bashing Maduro as an election-stealing dictator.
- Supporters of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado also grew frustrated with administration officials over their criticism of the exiled Venezuelan political leader when she tried to return home after the earthquakes in June.
The big picture: In Florrida, politicians, pollsters and consultants say higher gas prices due to the Iran war and the administration's heavy-handed immigration enforcement are bigger political problems for Republicans in the midterm elections than promoting democracy now in Venezuela.
- Polls in Venezuela show Rodriguez and Trump have low favorability ratings and Machado has the highest, although it's declining.
- Some in Trump's orbit have expressed concern that the optics of a meeting with Trump will hurt Rodriguez even more at home because she could look like too much of a U.S. puppet.
- But Trump isn't concerned about that, the administration official said, noting "The fact is POTUS loves Delcy because she's delivering and she's leading."
