Trump's former advisor said Russia offered US free rein in Venezuela in exchange for Ukraine
Posted by Skye on January 7, 2026, 6:48 pm Valued Poster
Why aren't the news stations talking about this?
"Russian officials indicated in 2019 that the Kremlin would be willing to back off from its support for Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in exchange for a free hand in Ukraine, according to Fiona Hill, an advisor to President Trump at the time.
The Russians repeatedly floated the idea of a “very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine," Hill said during a congressional hearing in 2019. Her comments surfaced again this week and were shared on social media after the U.S. stealth operation to capture Maduro.
Hill said Russia pushed the idea through articles in Russian media that referenced the Monroe Doctrine — a 19th-century principle in which the U.S. opposed European meddling in the Western Hemisphere and, in return, agreed to stay out of European affairs. It was invoked by Trump to justify the U.S. intervention in Venezuela.
Even though Russian officials never made a formal offer, Moscow's then-ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, hinted many times to her that Russia was willing to allow the United States to act as it wished in Venezuela if the U.S. did the same for Russia in Europe, Hill told the Associated Press this week.
“Before there was a ‘hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink, how about doing a deal?' But nobody [in the U.S.] was interested then," Hill said.
Trump dispatched Hill — then his senior advisor on Russia and Europe — to Moscow in April 2019 to deliver that message. She said she told Russian officials “Ukraine and Venezuela are not related to each other.”
At that time, she said, the White House was aligned with allies in recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president.
But fast forward seven years and the situation is different.
After ousting Maduro, the U.S. has said it will now “run” Venezuela policy. Trump also has renewed his threat to take over Greenland — a self-governing territory of Denmark and part of the NATO military alliance — and threatened to take military action against Colombia for facilitating the global sale of cocaine.
The Kremlin will be “thrilled” with the idea that large countries — such as Russia, the United States and China — get spheres of influence because it proves “might makes right,” Hill said.
Trump’s actions in Venezuela make it harder for Kyiv's allies to condemn Russia's designs on Ukraine as “illegitimate” because “we’ve just had a situation where the U.S. has taken over — or at least decapitated the government of another country — using fiction,” Hill told AP.
The Trump administration has described its raid in Venezuela as a law enforcement operation and has insisted that capturing Maduro was legal.
The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Hill's account.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not commented on the military operation to oust Maduro but the Foreign Ministry issued statements condemning U.S. “aggression.”
Burrows writes for the Associated Press.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times."
So few ever seem to even take him seriously. He seems to just normally get a free pass for saying crazy things... but it is crazy not to revisit all of this, especially now.
"We will always be there for NATO, even if they won't be there for us. The only Nation that China and Russia fear and respect is the DJT REBUILT USA.," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He claimed that Russia and China have "zero fear" of NATO without the United States.
"AND I DOUBT NATO WOULD BE THERE FOR US IF WE REALLY NEEDED THEM," he wrote. "EVERYONE IS LUCKY THAT I REBUILT OUR MILITARY IN MY FIRST TERM, AND CONTINUE TO DO SO."
So if the US attacks and/or acquires Greenland, what reason or incentive would they have to continue to support the OTHER NATO countries? Especially if they are basically giving Russia the go ahead to conquer all of Europe in exchange for the US taking Greenland and North and South America? Why else would they even NEED Greenland, when it is already part of NATO?
It is insane to believe ANYTHING trump says. Just look at his lies, his actions and the utter insanity. If this insanity is not stopped sooner than later, this is all headed to WWIII, and it's not far off. What the HELL is wrong with Congress? Get trump and his fellow crazies like Steve Miller OUT of there, NOW!
And now he is trying to ramp or speed up production of weapons, planes, etc, by CUTTING spending on defense contracts/contractors and trying to force them to take smaller salaries and produce more for less, in less time... as IF! So now the Defense stocks are tanking, which will only leave us MORE vulnerable, not LESS! What the bloody hell....? Trump must really BE a Russian asset.
on January 7, 2026, 6:48 pm
