Is Trump Right About Maduro Being an ‘International Drug Dealer’? 60 Minutes Gets Conflicting Answers From Experts

60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley received different answers from the two experts he interviewed Sunday night when he asked if President Donald Trump was right about captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro being a narco-terrorist.

Pelley first asked the question to former diplomat Roger Carstens, who served as the lead hostage negotiator for President Trump during his first term and for Joe Biden when he was in office; Carstens negotiated the release of several hostages from Venezuela when he served as Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

“Do you believe that the Maduro that you met was an international drug dealer?” Pelley asked him.

“From all the information that I’ve received, I would say ‘No,'” Carstens said.

He continued, “I think the country clearly touched drugs. And there’s information — I always have to be very clear that I might see certain amounts of information, and there’s always a treasure trove of information that I’ve never seen or never will see, due to classification or compartmentalization. But what I witnessed was not someone who’s necessarily hardcore in the drug business.”

Carstens added he will be “interested” to see how prosecutors go about proving their case.

Pelley then received a different answer from former DEA special agent Sandy Gonzalez, who played a key role in the 2020 narco-terrorism indictment against Maduro. Gonzalez served 25 years in the DEA and said the department spent nearly two decades investigating Venezuela.

He said the investigation showed high-ranking military members and politicians were involved trafficking drugs, including Maduro.

Gonzalez said the following when asked for the “most significant” evidence:

It’s a state sponsored drug trafficking organization, so it’s a massive conspiracy. And what I mean by that is not everybody is going to be holding the kilos of cocaine.

But in a conspiracy, you link everybody together that’s part of the chain. Maduro was part of that chain. First, as a minister of foreign affairs and then later as the president.

So when you are the president of a country and you are giving the green light to engage in this activity, and you are putting people in critical positions — in governors, ministers, heads of agencies — and allowing them to carry out these drug trafficking activities, you are just as guilty as the person making the drugs and transporting the drugs.

Pelley then asked if it was simply a matter of Maduro “looking the other way.”

Gonzalez said he believed that was not the case — that Maduro had “direct involvement” and was “enriching himself” with drug money.

CBS News added the segment just hours before 60 Minutes aired on Sunday, following the U.S. military operation that captured Maduro the day before.

Maduro and his wife were arrested and flown to the U.S. in the daring operation. He was charged in federal court in New York with narco-terrorism conspiracy, weapons charges, and cocaine-importation conspiracy. Maduro and three other defendants trafficked “thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States,” according to the indictment.

President Trump told reporters the U.S. will “run” Venezuela for the time being, now that Maduro is out of the picture.

Watch above.

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