Sources: US preparing attack plans for "drug targets" in Venezuela - National & International News - FRI 26Sep2025 -

Sources: US preparing attack plans for “drug targets” in Venezuela.

DOJ indicts former FBI chief Comey after pressure campaign from Trump.

Sources: US preparing attack plans for Venezuela

NBC reports that US military officials are drawing up plans for a possible attack on “drug targets” in Venezuela. Citing officials familiar with the planning and discussions, NBC reports that these attacks could take place in a matter of weeks. The sources indicated that the plans so far focus on drone attacks on “drug trafficking groups’ members and leadership” as well as drug labs.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has ramped up the US military presence in the Caribbean, dispatching a fleet of destroyers. Since then, the US has destroyed at least three small boats which Trump has claimed were carrying drugs and narcotraffickers. Venezuelan officials have also accused the US of illegally raiding a fishing boat.

Caracas clearly perceives these moves by the US as a prelude to an invasion, and possibly an attempt to unseat Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro mobilized a citizen army and the military is arming and training civilians to help fend off a possible invasion.

Regime change vs. rapprochement

What happens next may be determined by which of two factions within the Trump administration wins out. The first faction, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, favors a hawkish approach to Maduro and flexing US military muscle generally.

It’s unclear if the US military plan to attack “drug targets” in Venezuela will ultimately take aim at Maduro himself. However, Rubio and Trump have accused Maduro of directing the Tren de Aragua gang and using them to orchestrate an “invasion” of the US. US intelligence has said there is no evidence that Maduro is connected to Tren de Aragua. When asked about this assessment, Rubio answered flatly, “they’re wrong“. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard later fired high-ranking intelligence officials who disputed Trump and Rubio’s claims about Maduro’s ties to Tren de Aragua.

The US also accuses Maduro of leading an organization called the Cartel of the Suns, which probably doesn’t exist. Earlier this summer, the US government increased its reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest from $25 million to $50 million.

The second faction, represented by special envoy Ric Grenell, sees benefits in repairing relations with Maduro. Maduro recently reached out to the White House seeking to ease tensions by negotiating directly with Grenell. NBC reports that talks between Venezuela and the US are underway with the help of unnamed Middle Eastern mediators, but it is not clear if Grenell is part of these talks.

White House sources say that Grenell is being sidelined since his dovish approach to Maduro is increasingly out-of-step with both Rubio and Trump.

DOJ indicts former FBI chief Comey after pressure campaign from Trump

Last night, the Department of Justice announced a grand jury indictment against former FBI Director James Comey. The grand jury returned indictments on two of three charges brought by the office of the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia: one count of making false statements to Congress and one count of obstructing a congressional proceeding. The panel rejected a third charge, which was a second count of obstructing a Congressional proceeding.

All the counts pertain to Comey’s testimony in a September 30, 2020, hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The statute of limitations would have run out next Tuesday. The committee was at that time investigating the FBI’s conduct of investigations into both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s campaign which took place both before and after the 2016 Presidential election.

The scope of that inquiry also included the FBI’s investigation into links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. An Inspector General’s report found misconduct by the FBI in that investigation. This misconduct included presenting inaccurate and misleading information to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court to obtain warrants for electronic surveillance of members of Trump’s campaign. The charges now brought against Comey by the DOJ are not related to that misconduct.

What is Comey alleged to have lied about?

The allegedly false statement refers to Comey’s answer when Sen. Ted Cruz asked in 2020 whether Comey stood by his statement in a 2017 Congressional hearing- namely that Comey had not leaked information to the press on the 2016 investigations of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, nor had he authorized another member of the FBI to do so. Comey answered that he stood by that 2017 testimony.

The Justice Department alleges they have proof that Comey knowingly lied about this in 2017 and repeated that perjury in 2020.

The obstruction of Congress charge stems from prosecutors’ allegation that Comey made “false and misleading statements” and thus impeded the Congressional committee’s inquiry into the FBI’s actions before and after the 2016 election.

The third charge, which the grand jury rejected, alleged that Comey had again obstructed Congress by denying prior knowledge of a plan by Hillary Clinton to help her campaign while harming Trump’s. When asked, Comey answered that this did not “ring any bells”.

Allegations of political prosecution

In a now-deleted TruthSocial post last Saturday, President Trump addressed Attorney General Pam Bondi, apparently urging her to prosecute political foes of his, including Comey, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Insiders were apparently puzzled whether this was meant to be a public post or a private message to Bondi. Trump hinted that he wanted his former personal attorney Lindsey Halligan to take the US Attorney position recently vacated by Erik Seibert. Seibert resigned last week after finding no probable cause to prosecute Letitia James.

Despite having no prosecutorial experience, Halligan became acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday. Prosecutors in her office warned her that there was no probable cause to prosecute Comey. Perjury cases of this kind are difficult to prosecute. Trump’s public missive to Bondi will also allow Comey’s defense to argue the charges should be dismissed on the grounds that the prosecution is politically motivated. Failure to secure a conviction could deal a significant blow to the DOJ’s credibility.

Regardless, Halligan brought the charges. In fact, she apparently presented the case to the grand jury alone, possibly due to reluctance from other prosecutors in her office to participate

House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) called the Comey case an example of “the complete politicization of the Department of Justice”. Raskin also implied the case was meant to distract from the Epstein files.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter Pam Bondi decrying Trump’s “weaponization” of the DOJ. “Our justice system operates on the principle that the president cannot demand the prosecution of an individual to settle personal scores, let alone when there is no credible evidence that a person engaged in any wrongdoing,” the letter said.

House Oversight Committee releases new tranche of Epstein files referencing Steve Bannon, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.