Venezuelan president mocks Trump over sanctions, losing the popular vote


Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro shrugged off U.S. sanctions imposed on him Monday, telling supporters, "I don't take orders from the empire. Keep your sanctions, Donald Trump!"
The sanctions are in response to Sunday's election in Venezuela for a new legislative assembly that has the power to rewrite the country's constitution. The election has been called a sham by several world leaders and the Venezuelan opposition, and the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement the sanctions freeze all of Maduro's assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction and also bans Americans from doing business with him.
Maduro said the U.S. has "hatred" for his government, and had a pointed message for President Trump. "In the United States, it's possible to become president with 3 million votes less than your opponent," he said. "What a tremendous democracy!"
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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