Schumer blasted Trump for failing to oust Maduro — now warns arrest could lead to ‘endless war’

By Fox News · Fox News

Nearly six years ago, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered a Senate floor speech slamming President Donald Trump's State of the Union remarks in 2020, including ripping the president over the fact Venezuelan dictatorial president Nicolás Maduro was still in power. Fast-forward to the U.S. arrest of Maduro on sweeping narcotics charges under the second Trump administration, Schumer is accusing the Trump administration of potentially sparking an "endless war" in Venezuela with Maduro's removal from power. "Maybe his best metaphor was his claim to bring democracy to Venezuela. There’s a big policy there. It flopped," Schumer said in February 2020, just a day after Trump delivered his State of the Union address that year touting that Maduro's dictatorship will be "smashed and broken." "The president brags about his Venezuela policy? Give us a break. He hasn’t brought an end to the Maduro regime," Schumer continued. "The Maduro regime is more powerful today and more entrenched today than it was when the president began his anti-Maduro. Same thing with North Korea, same thing with China, same thing with Russia. Same thing with Syria." MAMDANI-LINKED DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS DEMAND TRUMP FREE MADURO FROM LOCKUP — AND SEND HIM BACK TO POWER Trump invited former then-Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó to Washington, D.C., to attend his State of the Union address, identifying him as the "legitimate" leader of Venezuela as Maduro clung to power. Guaidó declared himself interim president after Venezuela’s opposition-led National Assembly said Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate. "The United States is leading a 59-nation diplomatic coalition against the socialist dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro," Trump said in his speech before pointing to Guaidó's presence at the joint session of Congress. "Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, a tyrant who brutalizes his people. But Maduro’s grip on tyranny will be smashed and broken." Schumer said in his Senate speech th…