Politics
On the ground in Venezuela: Shock, fear and defiance
CARACAS, Venezuela — It was about 2 a.m. Saturday Caracas time when the detonations began, lighting up the sullen sky like a post-New Year’s fireworks display.
“¡Ya comenzó!” was the recurrent phrase in homes, telephone conversations and social media chats as the latest iteration of U.S. “shock and awe” rocked the Venezuelan capital. “It has begun!”
Then the question: “¿Maduro?”
The great uncertainty was the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro, who has been under Trump administration threat for months.
The scenes of revelry from a joyous Venezuelan diaspora celebrating from Miami to Madrid were not repeated here. Fear of the unknown kept most at home.
Hours would pass before news reports from outside Venezuela confirmed that U.S. forces had captured Maduro and placed him on a U.S. ship to face criminal charges in federal court in New York.
Venezuelans had watched the unfolding spectacle from their homes, using social media to exchange images of explosions and the sounds of bombardment. This moment, it was clear, was ushering in a new era of uncertainly for Venezuela, a nation reeling from a decade of economic, political and social unrest.
Government supporters display posters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, right, and former President Hugo Chávez in downtown Caracas on Saturday.
(Matias Delacroix / Associated Press)
The ultimate result was an imponderable. But that this was a transformative moment — for good or bad — seemed indisputable.
By daybreak, an uneasy calm overtook the city of more than 3 million. The explosions and the drone of U.S. aircraft ceased. Blackouts cut electricity to parts of the capital.
Pro-government youths wielding automatic rifles set up roadblocks or sped through the streets on motorcycles, a warning to those who might celebrate Maduro’s downfall.
Shops, gas stations and other businesses were mostly closed. There was little traffic.
“When I heard the explosions, I grabbed my rosary and began to pray,” said Carolina Méndez, 50, who was among the few who ventured out Saturday, seeking medicines at a pharmacy, though no personnel had arrived to attend to clients waiting on line. “I’m very scared now. That’s why I came to buy what I need.”
A sense of alarm was ubiquitous.
Motorcycles and cars line up for gas Saturday in Caracas. Most of the population stayed indoors, reluctant to leave their homes except for gas and food.
(Andrea Hernandez Briceno / For The Times)
“People are buying bottled water, milk and eggs,” said Luz Pérez, a guard at one of the few open shops, not far from La Carlota airport, one of the sites targeted by U.S. strikes. “I heard the explosions. It was very scary. But the owner decided to open anyway to help people.”
Customers were being allowed to enter three at a time. Most didn’t want to speak. Their priority was to stock up on basics and get home safely.
Rumors circulated rapidly that U.S. forces had whisked away Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
There was no immediate official confirmation here of the detention of Maduro and Flores, both wanted in the United States for drug-trafficking charges — allegations that Maduro has denounced as U.S. propaganda. But then images of an apparently captive Maduro, blindfolded, in a sweatsuit soon circulated on social media.
There was no official estimate of Venezuelan casualties in the U.S. raid.
Rumors circulated indicating that a number of top Maduro aides had been killed, among them Diosdado Cabello, the security minister who is a staunch Maduro ally. Cabello is often the face of the government.
But Cabello soon appeared on official TV denouncing “the terrorist attack against our people,” adding: “Let no one facilitate the moves of the enemy invader.”
Although Trump, in his Saturday news conference, confidently predicted that the United States would “run” Venezuela, apparently during some undefined transitional period, it’s not clear how that will be accomplished.
A key question is whether the military — long a Maduro ally — will remain loyal now that he is in U.S. custody. There was no public indication Saturday of mass defections from the Venezuelan armed forces. Nor was it clear that Maduro’s government infrastructure had lost control of the country. Official media reported declarations of loyalty from pro-government politicians and citizens from throughout Venezuela.
A billboard with an image of President Nicolas Maduro stands next to La Carlota military base in Caracas, Venezuela, on Saturday. The graffiti reads, “Fraud, fraud.”
(Andrea Hernandez Briceno / For The Times)
In his comments, Trump spoke of a limited U.S. troop presence in Venezuela, focused mostly on protecting the oil infrastructure that his administration says was stolen from the United States — a characterization widely rejected here, even among Maduro’s critics. But Trump offered few details on sending in U.S. personnel to facilitate what could be a tumultuous transition.
Meantime, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez surfaced on official television and demanded the immediate release of Maduro and his wife, according to the official Telesur broadcast outlet. Her comments seemed to be the first official acknowledgment that Maduro had been taken.
“There is one president of this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro,” the vice president said in an address from Miraflores Palace, from where Maduro and his wife had been seized hours earlier.
During an emergency meeting of the National Defense Council, Telesur reported, Rodríguez labeled the couple’s detention an “illegal kidnapping.”
The Trump administration, the vice president charged, meant to “capture our energy, mineral and [other] natural resources.”
Her defiant words came after Trump, in his news conference, said that Rodríguez had been sworn in as the country’s interim president and had evinced a willingness to cooperate with Washington.
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump said.
Pro-government armed civilians patrol in La Guaira, Venezuela, on Saturday after President Trump announced that President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country.
(Matias Delacroix / Associated Press)
Somewhat surprisingly, Trump also seemed to rule out a role in an interim government for Marina Corina Machado, the Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate and longtime anti-Maduro activist.
“She’s a very nice woman, but doesn’t have respect within the country,” Trump said of Machado.
Machado is indeed a controversial figure within the fractured Venezuelan opposition. Some object to her open calls for U.S. intervention, preferring a democratic change in government.
Nonetheless, her stand-in candidate, Edmundo González, did win the presidency in national balloting last year, according to opposition activists and others, who say Maduro stole the election.
“Venezuelans, the moment of liberty has arrived!” Machado wrote in a letter released on X. “We have fought for years. … What was meant to happen is happening.”
Not everyone agreed.
“They want our oil and they say it’s theirs,” said Roberto, 65, a taxi driver who declined to give his last name for security reasons. “Venezuelans don’t agree. Yes, I think people will go out and defend their homeland.”
Special correspondent Mogollón reported from Caracas and staff writer McDonnell from Boston. Contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal in Mexico City.
Politics
Police rush to SCOTUS justice’s home amid rising threats against conservatives — but report quickly unravels
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Police responded to a “swatting call” at the residence of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett in Virginia on Wednesday evening, police confirmed, marking the latest security scare involving a conservative public figure.
“Yesterday evening at approximately 9:02 p.m., officers responded to a swatting call at the residence of U.S. Supreme Court Justice in Fairfax County,” a Fairfax County Police Department public information officer told Fox News Digital on Thursday when asked about reports concerning the incident at Coney Barrett’s home.
Fairfax police responded to Barrett’s home after they received a call through the department’s non-emergency line, then met with the justice’s security detail, who confirmed the report was “fictitious,” the officer told Fox News Digital.
The incident comes amid years of heightened threats against Supreme Court justices, including protests outside conservative justices’ homes after the leaked Dobbs draft opinion in 2022 showing the court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, and the arrest near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home of a California man who was later charged with attempted murder.
FBI INVESTIGATING RISE IN SWATTING INCIDENTS AFTER SEVERAL CONSERVATIVES TARGETED, KASH PATEL SAYS
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was targeted in a swatting incident at home Wednesday evening. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Officers immediately coordinated with Supreme Court Police personnel assigned to the residence and quickly determined that the report was fictitious. No additional police resources were utilized,” the police department said.
Swatting calls target an individual by calling in a false police report for crimes — such as a murder, a hostage situation, bomb threats or active shooters that would require a greater law enforcement response — to the home of the target.
A partial audio recording of the police audio surfaced on X on Thursday that reported a “call came in for sounds of gunshots.” Law enforcement can be heard saying there was a “suspicious noise” at a 24-hour security coverage for a “high-priority resident” of the county.
FROM RALLY GUNFIRE TO WHITE HOUSE SHOOTING, THREATS AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP CONTINUE TO MOUNT
Barrett was on the bench Thursday morning alongside her colleagues, and read aloud summaries of two opinions she authored. Barrett made no mention of the Wednesday incident in her bench remarks.
“Swatting is an attempt to get an innocent person killed—in this case, a sitting Supreme Court Justice,” posted Republican Utah Sen, Mike Lee on X as reports of the incident surfaced Thursday. “The proper response will be putting the offender in prison for many, many years.”
Police officers watch abortion-rights advocates demonstrate outside Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home in Chevy Chase, Md., on May 18, 2022. (Bonnie Cash/Getty Images)
MIKE DAVIS: THE SUPREME COURT BETRAYED AGAIN — THIS TIME FROM THE BENCH
The leaked Dobbs draft opinion became a lightning rod for protests, with abortion-rights activists demonstrating outside the homes of Barrett, Kavanaugh and other members of the court’s conservative majority.
In June 2022, Californian Nicholas John Roske was charged with attempted murder for making violent threats against Kavanaugh while carrying a gun, knife and pepper spray near the justice’s home. He was later sentenced to eight years behind bars.
Attacks on conservative leaders have been on the rise, most recently targeting the commander in chief, including just in April at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
Protesters gathered near the home of Justice Barrett. (Fox News)
There were two public assassination attempts on Trump’s life in 2024, beginning in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a bullet grazed his ear after a gunman climbed onto a roof during a rally on July 13, 2024.
Earlier this month, a California Army veteran known for his display of “Make America Great Again” memorabilia and American flags outside his residence, dubbed the “Trump House,” was attacked and beaten to death.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Supreme Court for comment.
Fox News’ Bill Mears contributed to this report.
Politics
Bari Weiss shakes up ‘60 Minutes’ with a new executive producer; Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi exit
The venerable news magazine “60 Minutes” is undergoing a major overhaul under CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss, who hired a new executive producer and ousted two correspondents.
Weiss announced Thursday the appointment of a new executive producer to replace Tanya Simon, a 26-year veteran of the program who took over the top job in July. She will be replaced by Nick Bilton, a former New York Times technology columnist and documentary filmmaker.
Weiss also fired “60 Minutes” correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi, who clashed with her boss over a segment on President Trump’s immigration policies, and Cecilia Vega, who joined the program in 2023.
Bilton will be the first executive producer in the 58-year history of “60 Minutes” to come from outside the tightly-knit organization. The program has only had four leaders in its history — Don Hewitt, Jeff Fager, Bill Owens and Simon — all of whom came up through the ranks of CBS News.
Weiss is said to have developed a solid relationship with Simon, whose late father Bob Simon was a highly respected correspondent for the program. But the connection apparently deteriorated after Weiss did not receive advance notice of Anderson Cooper’s sign-off from the program, ending his nearly 20-year run as a correspondent.
Cooper, who is also a full-time anchor at CNN, turned down a new “60 Minutes” deal from Weiss. During his final appearance, he expressed fears about the editorial independence of the program.
Tanya Simon is being replaced as executive producer of “60 Minutes.”
(Michele Crowe / CBS News)
“Things can always evolve and change, and I think that’s awesome, and things should evolve and change, but I hope the core of what ’60 Minutes’ is always remains,” Anderson told viewers. “I think the independence of ’60 Minutes’ has been critical.”
Speculation over changes at “60 Minutes,” the most-watched news program on television for 52 consecutive years, have been swirling for months since Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison installed Weiss to oversee editorial content at CBS News.
The program has been in turmoil since October 2024, when President Trump filed a $20-billion lawsuit against CBS over an interview conducted with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. That suit was settled to clear the regulatory path for Skydance Media’s acquisition of Paramount.
But from a business standpoint, “60 Minutes” is a curious target for a revamp. The program is one of the most profitable hours on the CBS prime-time schedule while retaining its status as television’s most prestigious journalism operation. While the ratings for “60 Minutes” get a boost from a lead-in from high-rated NFL late-afternoon games, it remains one of the few network shows that viewers make an appointment to watch.
The segment that doomed Alfonsi, “Inside CECOT,” detailed the Trump administration’s treatment of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants who were deported to an El Salvador prison known for its harsh conditions. The segment was scheduled to run Dec. 21 but was pulled the day before air by Weiss, who believed it needed more reporting, including a direct response from the administration, which did not participate.
Alfonsi, the “60 Minutes” correspondent who worked for months on the piece, protested the move by Weiss, calling it politically motivated in an email she sent to colleagues.
The story eventually ran on Jan. 18 without any substantial changes to its tone or reporting. Weiss acknowledged internally that pulling the segment after it had already been promoted was a mistake.
But Alfonsi said publicly that she fully expected to be let go from the program. Her contract ended with the recently concluded TV season.
Alfonsi first joined as a correspondent by CBS News in 2002. She left for ABC News in 2008 but returned to CBS in 2013 and joined the flagship edition of “60 Minutes” in 2015.
Politics
RFK Jr. responds to snake-handling critics with new video showing him wrangling a venomous rattlesnake
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared another snake-handling video Wednesday after social media users raised concerns over his earlier encounter with a pair of black racer snakes.
Kennedy Jr. posted an Instagram video captioned, “In response to the many comments about venomous snakes, this video shows how Cheryl and I handled a recent rattlesnake rescue.”
The clip begins with Kennedy Jr. sitting in his home office before someone alerts him to a snake in the driveway.
“Hold on, guys. I’ll be back in a flash,” he says before grabbing a bucket and a small net and heading outside.
RFK JR BAREHANDS A PAIR OF SNAKES ON DR. OZ’S PATIO IN WILD VIDEO
RFK Jr. wrangles a Western Diamondback rattlesnake during a rescue video shared to Instagram Wednesday. (Instagram/RFKJr.)
The HHS secretary then carefully scoops up the rattlesnake as onlookers react in amazement.
After placing the snake in a bucket, Kennedy Jr. later pins it behind the head and lifts it toward the camera while explaining how to identify the reptile.
“His fangs are in there. I don’t want to touch them,” he said. “This is a beautiful snake. This is a Western Diamondback. You can tell by these rings at the end of his tail.”
Kennedy Jr. then asked his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, to bring him a pillowcase before transporting and releasing the snake back into the wild.
ACTRESS CHERYL HINES CLASHES WITH ‘THE VIEW’ OVER HER HUSBAND RFK JR’S RECORD SERVING AMERICANS
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proudly displays a pair of black North American racer snakes he caught on Dr. Oz’s patio. (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.)
The Instagram post appeared to respond directly to criticism and concern sparked by another snake video Kennedy Jr. shared Tuesday on X.
In that clip, Kennedy Jr. grabbed two black North American racer snakes with his bare hands while visiting Dr. Mehmet Oz’s patio as Hines watched in apparent horror.
“Honey, honey … why?” Hines yelled as Kennedy Jr. cornered the snakes.
Kennedy Jr. then lunged at the reptiles and eventually lifted both by their tails as they repeatedly bit his hands.
CHERYL HINES SHARES HARROWING EVACUATION FROM WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER AS GUNSHOTS RANG OUT
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cheryl Hines attend the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2026. (Taylor Hill/WireImage)
“Black snakes, they’re biting me,” Kennedy Jr. said with a smile.
The snakes continued striking at his hands as Hines pleaded, “Bobby, please! Bobby, Bobby, please,” before later telling him, “You are nuts.”
Kennedy Jr. later posted the video to X with the caption, “Cheryl cheerleads the removal of a pair of Black Racers from Dr Oz’s patio.”
According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, black racer snakes are nonvenomous and generally harmless to humans, though they will “readily bite to defend themselves.”
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The earlier video showed Kennedy Jr. handling nonvenomous snakes, while Wednesday’s Instagram clip focused on a venomous Western Diamondback rattlesnake, prompting some social media users to question whether the HHS secretary was taking unnecessary risks.
Fox News Digital’s Robert McGreevy contributed to this report.
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