Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams has criticized former Vice President Kamala Harris' hypocritical response to the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, calling her response “cynical and irresponsible.”
Harris released a statement criticizing President Donald Trump on Saturday evening after US troops carried out an early morning mission in Caracas, the capital of the South American country.
“Donald Trump's actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger or more accessible,” she wrote on X. “Just because Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both illegal and unwise. We've seen this movie before. Regime change wars or oil wars that are sold as strength but turn into chaos and American families pay the price.”
“The American people don’t want this, and they are tired of the lies,” Harris added. “This is not about drugs or democracy. This is about oil and Donald Trump's desire to play the role of regional dictator. If he cared about that, he would not have pardoned a convicted drug trafficker and sidelined Venezuela's legitimate opposition while cutting deals with Maduro's cronies.”
Harris' statement continued by arguing that Trump had put US troops at risk, wasted money, illegally destabilized Venezuela, “with no exit plan and no benefit at home.”
“America needs leaders whose priorities are lowering costs for working families, upholding the rule of law, strengthening alliances and, most importantly, putting the American people first,” she concluded.
Adams responded to the former vice president's post Sunday morning, indicating that the Biden-Harris administration had increased Maduro's reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction to $25 million on Jan. 10, 2025.
The previous award was $15 million, set by the first Trump administration. The current Trump administration increased that amount to $50 million before Maduro was eventually captured.
“Public safety is not a political game,” Adams wrote. “You can't label someone a drug dictator one year and the next year pretend they're no longer a threat simply because a different president is in power. It's cynical and irresponsible.”
“Maduro’s drugs have killed thousands of Americans and continue to endanger our children,” he continued. “Imagine being the parents of 2-year-old Nicholas Felis Dominici, who died of fentanyl poisoning at a day care center in the Bronx, and watching this political theater.”
In September 2023, Dominici took a fatal drug in the care of Gray Mendez, a daycare owner who pleaded guilty to federal charges after police discovered brick of fentanyl stored on children's play mats.
“America is safer today because Maduro is no longer in power. Welcome to New York, Nicholas,” Adams concluded.
Maduro expected He will be arraigned Monday in the Southern District of New York on multiple narcoterrorism, drug and weapons charges, NewsNation reported.
Olivia Rondeau is a political reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter And Instagram.
