Mike Baker

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I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow.

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It's Tuesday, the 6th of January.

Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin.

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

All right, let's get briefed.

First up, one of the biggest unanswered questions after Maduro's ouster, why the Trump administration is apparently refusing to back or support Venezuela's opposition leader.

New reporting reveals what's driving that decision.

Later in the show, Israeli defense sources warn that Iran may be plotting to assassinate Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharra as quiet contacts open between Israel and Damascus.

But first, our afternoon spotlight.

One of the big questions, frankly the biggest question, that obviously remains after Nicolas Maduro's ouster is what comes next, and more particularly, why the Trump administration has chosen not to embrace opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Marina Corina de Machado as the next leader of Venezuela.

Well, a new New York Times report is now shedding some light on why that decision was apparently made.

You may recall President Trump publicly dismissed Machado in recent days, saying that she lacked sufficient support and respect inside Venezuela, and made clear that she would not be backed by Washington as a successor, even as she praised U.S.

action and signaled plans to return home.

Behind the scenes, according to The Times, that call was not impulsive.

In fact, the administration had already made the decision before Maduro was removed.

The reporting says the White House was persuaded by a combination of intelligence assessments and internal frustration with Machado's political strategy, assessments that raised serious doubts about the opposition's ability to actually govern.

U.S.