Trump ally Erik Prince reportedly wants to send his own private army to Venezuela
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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