December 11th, 2025: Trump’s Post-Maduro Strategy Revealed & Ukraine’s New Peace Proposal

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The President's Daily Brief 19 min 2 speakers 6 chapters transcribed
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Mike Baker 0:00
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Mike Baker 0:34
It's Thursday, the 11th of December. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, a dramatic escalation in the Caribbean as U.S. forces seize a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. It comes as new reporting reveals the Trump administration has been quietly contingency planning in the event the Maduro regime collapses. I'll have the details. Later in the show, Ukraine's president says a revised peace proposal is nearly ready for Washington. Zelensky suggests new developments could come within days as the White House ramps up pressure for a path to end the war. Plus, artillery and rocket fire are intensifying along the Thailand-Cambodia border.
Mike Baker 1:23
The White House now says President Trump will step in to keep the ceasefire brokered by the White House earlier this year from unraveling. And in today's back of the brief, closing arguments begin in the trial of former New York gubernatorial aide Linda Sun. Prosecutors say she spent years acting essentially as an agent of influence for the Chinese regime, and in addition, used her position to secure kickbacks in a PPE fraud scheme during the pandemic, among other charges. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. We continue to track the escalating confrontation, of course, between the U.S. and the Maduro regime in Venezuela. And while the dramatic U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker grabbed headlines today – we'll have more on that in a few minutes – there's a quieter development happening behind the scenes that isn't getting much attention.
Mike Baker 2:14
And that's a look inside the Trump administration's plans for what happens the day after Nicolas Maduro falls. According to new reporting, the White House has been quietly drafting a series of contingency plans for every possible scenario, specifically a negotiated exit by Maduro, a forced departure triggered by U.S. military action, or perhaps a chaotic collapse from inside the regime itself. Sources who spoke to CNN say these plans are being built through the Homeland Security Council and are being closely held. Only a small group of senior officials has visibility into the details, and they're gaming out what the U.S. should do in the first hours and days after the regime is gone. This includes options for securing the country, stabilizing key institutions, restoring economic functions, and, of course, filling the power vacuum.
Mike Baker 3:07
And while the administration publicly frames its military deployments as counter-drug missions, internally there's acknowledgement that these assets also could support potential action against the regime. That military buildup includes thousands of U.S. troops now staged across the Caribbean, a carrier strike group operating off Venezuela's coastline, and, of course, continued strikes against drug boats that the White House says are linked to the Maduro-controlled military and intelligence services. Officials say planning for a post-Maduro Venezuela is necessary because there's no guarantee that the regime will negotiate in good faith. Maduro has made, and of course broken, multiple agreements over the past decade.
Mike Baker 3:47
Even senior members of the administration are conceding that a diplomatic exit is unlikely at this point. And that's why these day-after plans have intensified. The administration wants to avoid the mistakes of 2003 in Iraq, removing a dictator without a detailed plan for what comes next. And there, of course, as you know, what came next was a mess. Experts quoted in the reporting say the danger is in acting without a blueprint for the political transition that follows. There's also the issue of legitimacy.

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