Erik Prince officially thinks private armies can solve everything
Prince, the founder of private security company Blackwater and a close ally to President Trump, has reportedly been rounding up support and funding to send up to 5,000 soldiers-for-hire to Venezuela. The privately funded troops would attempt to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in favor of U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó, four sources tell Reuters.
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A U.S. national security spokesman wouldn't tell Reuters if Prince had told government officials about the plan, though a source said the White House would not support Prince's reported proposal. Maduro's government didn't respond to a request for comment.
The Reuters report was published just after House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) discussed Prince in a live interview with The Washington Post's Robert Costa. Schiff told Costa there was "very strong evidence that [Prince] willingly misled the committee" during interviews about his reported meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And "later today," Schiff said his committee will "be making a criminal referral to the Justice Department" regarding those supposed "false statements."
Watch Schiff's appearance below, and read more from Reuters here. Kathryn Krawczyk
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