Mike Baker

It's Wednesday, the 28th of January.

Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin.

I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage.

And yes, I'm still on the road and also it does appear that I'm losing my voice.

All right, let's get briefed.

First up, behind the scenes, U.S.

intelligence is questioning whether Venezuela's interim leader is really on board with Washington's plan as Secretary of State Marco Rubio warns the option of force remains on the table.

Later in the show, Europe moves to clamp down on Russia's so-called ghost tanker fleet as multiple countries vow to obstruct ships suspected of evading oil sanctions.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

In Washington, there's a growing sense that the post-Maduro transition in Venezuela may not be unfolding quite as smoothly as it looks on the surface.

Publicly, the Trump administration says it's seeing cooperation from interim president, Delcy Rodriguez.

Privately, though, U.S.

intelligence appears far less convinced.

According to new exclusive reporting from Reuters, recent U.S.

intelligence assessments are raising doubts about whether Rodriguez is actually prepared to follow through on Washington's central demand, formerly severing Venezuela's ties with U.S.

adversaries Iran, China, and Russia.

U.S.

officials have been clear about what they want.

They expect Rodriguez to expel foreign diplomats and advisors tied to those governments' intelligence apparatus and to decisively realign Venezuela away from what Washington views as hostile influence in the Western Hemisphere.

But so far, well, that break hasn't happened.