(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Was one of Trump's stolen documents the plans for the Invasion of Venezuela [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-06-09 Trump made a recent grifting message with a certain history painting as a backdrop at his Bedminster golf club. We know he’s all about the props for his media pitches. Assuming that he actually understood iconology, he perhaps was suggesting that one of the documents he stole from the NARA was an unexecuted plan for the invasion of Venezuela in 2017 that echoed a subsequent, failed mercenary attempt in 2020. It does seem like Trump loved to keep souvenirs, especially the ones he could brag about, even if they were never-executed plans. Perhaps that was one of the items he took with him to Mar-a-Lago. As speculation intensified ahead of the Justice Department’s notification of the indictment, Mr. Trump’s team pre-taped a video of the former president reacting to the expected charges in a speech direct to the camera — and standing in front of what appeared to be a version of a painting of President Theodore Roosevelt and Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany’s leader during World War I. theodenthengling Jun 09, 2023 at 09:02:01 PM I was curious about the artwork in the background of TFG’s Toothache Social rant “watch my official response.” It is an amateurish copy of the painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, President Theodore Roosevelt of the United States of America and the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, in the dispute over the German Blockade of Venezuela, 1902. I wonder why he would use such a backdrop. www.dailykos.com/... Half an hour after he announced his indictment, he posted the video on his social media website. In it, he bashes Democrats, portrays the indictment as evidence of “a nation in decline” and calls himself “an innocent man.” www.nytimes.com/... President Theodore Roosevelt of the United States of America and the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, in the dispute over the German Blockade of Venezuela, 1902 Jean Leon Gerome Ferris www.meisterdrucke.ie/... The Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903[a] was a naval blockade imposed against Venezuela by Great Britain, Germany, and Italy from December 1902 to February 1903, after President Cipriano Castro refused to pay foreign debts and damages suffered by European citizens in recent Venezuelan civil wars. Castro assumed that the American Monroe Doctrine would see Washington intervene to prevent European military intervention. However, at the time, United States president Theodore Roosevelt and his Department of State saw the doctrine as applying only to European seizure of territory, rather than intervention per se. With prior promises that no such seizure would occur, the U.S. was officially neutral and allowed the action to go ahead without objection. The blockade saw Venezuela's small navy quickly disabled, but Castro refused to give in, and instead agreed in principle to submit some of the claims to international arbitration, which he had previously rejected. Germany initially objected to this, arguing that some claims should be accepted by Venezuela without arbitration. President Roosevelt years later claimed he forced the Germans to back down by sending his own larger fleet under and threatening war if the Germans landed. However he made no preparations for war against a major power, nor did he alert officials at the State Department, War Department, Navy Department or the Senate.[1] [...] As a result, the crisis produced the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine,[29] described in Roosevelt's 1904 message to Congress.[7] The Corollary asserted a right of the United States to intervene to "stabilize" the economic affairs of small states in the Caribbean and Central America if they were unable to pay their international debts, in order to preclude European intervention to do so. The Venezuela crisis, and in particular the arbitral award, were key in the development of the Corollary.[29] en.wikipedia.org/... 1903 Caricature of Venezuelan president Cipriano Castro, by U.S. cartoonist William Allen Rogers, published in the New York Herald, January, 1903. (2018) BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — As a meeting last August (2017) in the Oval Office to discuss sanctions on Venezuela was concluding, President Donald Trump turned to his top aides and asked an unsettling question: With a fast unraveling Venezuela threatening regional security, why can’t the U.S. just simply invade the troubled country? But shortly afterward, he raised the issue with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, according to the U.S. official. Two high-ranking Colombian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing Trump confirmed the report. Then in September, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Trump discussed it again, this time at greater length, in a private dinner with leaders from four Latin American allies that included Santos, the same three people said and Politico reported in February. www.vox.com/... The suggestion stunned those present at the meeting, including U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, both of whom have since left the administration. This account of the previously undisclosed conversation comes from a senior administration official familiar with what was said. In an exchange that lasted around five minutes, McMaster and others took turns explaining to Trump how military action could backfire and risk losing hard-won support among Latin American governments to punish President Nicolas Maduro for taking Venezuela down the path of dictatorship, according to the official. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions. But Trump pushed back. Although he gave no indication he was about to order up military plans, he pointed to what he considered past cases of successful gunboat diplomacy in the region, according to the official, like the invasions of Panama and Grenada in the 1980s. The idea, despite his aides’ best attempts to shoot it down, would nonetheless persist in the president’s head. apnews.com/... Another actual attempt was made before the 2020 election, called Operation Gideon (2020). Through connections within the private security community, Silvercorp founder Jordan Goudreau was acquainted with Keith Schiller, the longtime director of security for Donald Trump.[9] Schiller brought Goudreau to a March 2019 fundraising event focused on security in Venezuela, which took place at the University Club of Washington, DC.[9][15] Lester Toledo [es], the director of humanitarian aid for Guaidó's government, was also in attendance.[9] Goudreau would later say that the Trump administration had knowledge of the operation before starting and even that the plotters held meetings in the Trump Doral west of Miami. Goudreau sued J. J. Rendón in October in a $1.4 million breach-of-contract lawsuit.[92] In May 2021, three Venezuelans were sentenced in Colombia to six years in prison for their relation to the operation.[93] en.wikipedia.org/... x Trump vaguely repeats "Presidential Records Act" as if that law obviously helps him. The reality is the exact opposite. It's an open-and-shut statute that says the government, not the ex-prez, gets custody of presidential records, classified or not. https://t.co/0nSADZciKD — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 9, 2023 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/9/2174442/-Was-one-of-Trump-s-stolen-documents-the-plans-for-the-Invasion-of-Venezuela Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/