Trump blames Biden for reviving Maduro by buying 'a lot of oil from Venezuela'

Donald Trump spoke from the Oval Office on Venezuela and blamed Joe Biden for the Nicolás Maduro regime's continued existence. The president made his remarks following Richard Grenell's visit to Caracas and analyzed the situation in the country, noting that his administration is not comfortable with the current situation. In turn, he pledged to work to "straighten out the situation in Venezuela."

According to Mauricio Claver-Carone, U.S. special envoy to Latin America, the main objective of Grenell's trip was to tell Maduro to remove all Venezuelan criminals who have been "exported to the United States," particularly members of the criminal gang known as Tren de Aragua.

Hours after Grenell's visit, Trump spoke out on Venezuela and pledged to work to "straighten out" the situation in the country. "We have a tremendous Venezuelan population, we want to see what we can do to get people back to their country safely, with freedom, and he is meeting with a lot of different people, but we are for the people of Venezuela," the president began.

He then took aim at his predecessor, Joe Biden, whom he accused of bringing Maduro back to life by buying oil.

"Venezuela has been very unfortunate, I was very surprised when I saw that Biden agreed to buy a lot of oil from Venezuela, because Venezuela was just about finished, the dictator. And when that happened, it brought him back to life, you know, Biden went out and they buy millions of barrels of oil," he continued.

However, he vowed to end purchases from Venezuela in his second term in the White House. "We're not going to let that nonsense happen, we're going to see what happens, we're not comfortable with Venezuela, we don't like how they treat Venezuelans, not at all," he added.

Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, told reporters earlier that Trump does not recognize Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela. Trump even described Maduro as a "dictator" from the Oval Office.

Leavitt also specified that Grenell discussed with Maduro the release of some U.S. prisoners in Venezuela, who are being held as a geopolitical bargaining tool. The press secretary added that 400 members of Tren de Aragua are currently being held in the United States.