MIAMI: Less than three years after President Joe Biden pardoned a close ally of Nicolás Maduro, the Justice Department is once again targeting the businessman, The Associated Press has learned, an investigation that could bolster the US prosecution of the deposed Venezuelan leader.
Federal prosecutors for months have been digging into Alex Saab’s role in an alleged bribery conspiracy involving Venezuelan government contracts to import food, according to two former law enforcement officials who spoke to AP about the ongoing probe on the condition of anonymity.
Saab, 54, amassed a fortune through Venezuelan government contracts. But the Colombian-born businessman, long described by US officials as Maduro’s “bag man,” fell out of favor with the country’s new leadership that took power following the US ouster of the Venezuelan president last month.
The Justice Department’s newfound interest in Saab is taking place against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s efforts to stabilize relations with the oil-rich nation. The investigation stems from a 2021 case the Justice Department brought against Saab’s longtime partner, Alvaro Pulido, the former law enforcement officials said. That prosecution, out of Miami, centers around the so-called CLAP program set up by Maduro to provide staples — rice, corn flour, cooking oil — to poor Venezuelans struggling to feed themselves at a time of rampant hyperinflation and a crumbling currency.
The renewed scrutiny marks a reversal of fortunes for Saab, who escaped an earlier US prosecution for an unrelated bribery scheme after Biden pardoned him as part of a prisoner swap for several Americans jailed in Venezuela.
His whereabouts remained unknown Tuesday, days after conflicting news accounts suggested he had been detained or brought in for questioning – at least temporarily – by officials in Venezuela at the request of the Trump administration.
Neither US officials nor acting President Delcy Rodriguez’s government has commented. Luigi Giuliano, an Italian attorney, said he met Saab last week in the Venezuelan capital and denied he was detained but declined further comment. Saab’s US attorney, Neil Schuster, also didn’t comment.
Since taking over from Maduro on Jan. 3, Rodríguez has demoted Saab, firing him from her cabinet and stripping him of his role as the main conduit for foreign companies looking to invest in Venezuela.
Biden pardons Saab over objections by law enforcement
Over the objections of law enforcement, Biden in 2023 agreed to free Saab in exchange for the release of several imprisoned Americans and Venezuela’s return of a fugitive foreign defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard.” The deal came as part of an effort by the Biden White House to roll back sanctions and lure Maduro into holding a free and fair presidential election.
Fresh charges against individuals previously granted clemency are rare and can only be secured for crimes committed outside the defined scope of the pardon, said Frank Bowman, a professor emeritus at the University of Missouri School of Law who is writing a book on pardons.
Saab’s pardon was narrowly tailored to a 2019 indictment — the case number is cited in the pardon itself — related to a contract he and Pulido allegedly won through bribes to build low-income housing units in Venezuela that were never built.
Saab’s pardon came with a number of conditions, Bowman noted, including that he remain outside the United States and not commit any further crimes against it. “This is a voidable pardon,” he said.
Insider connections fuel Saab’s rise
In Venezuela’s graft-ridden patronage system, where loyalty and insider connections are paramount, few insiders prospered like Saab. He first came onto the radar of the US Drug Enforcement Administration more than a decade ago, after amassing a large number of contracts with Maduro’s socialist administration.
In 2016, a pro-Maduro governor allegedly hired a company controlled by Pulido to import from Mexico 10 million food boxes at $34 per box. He allegedly did so knowing that the real cost of purchasing and sending the boxes to Venezuela was far less and demanded kickbacks. One of those who allegedly signed off on the deal and helped set up a web of companies to hide the bribe payments was Saab, who is identified in the indictment as “Co-Conspirator 1.”
Saab was arrested in 2020 after his private jet made a refueling stop in Cape Verde en route to Iran on what the Venezuelan government described as a humanitarian mission to circumvent US sanctions.
Maduro celebrated Saab’s return in 2023 as a “triumph for truth” over what he called a US-led campaign of lies, threats and torture against someone he considered a Venezuelan diplomat. But several Republicans criticized the deal, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, who wrote a letter to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland saying history “should remember as a predator of vulnerable people.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the federal investigation of Saab. The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.
Witness against Maduro?
Should he be returned to US custody, Saab could become a valuable witness against Maduro, the former law enforcement officials said. Saab secretly met with the DEA before his first arrest and, in a closed-door court hearing in 2022, his lawyers revealed that the businessman, for years, helped the DEA untangle corruption in Maduro’s inner circle. As part of that cooperation, he forfeited more than $12 million in illegal proceeds from dirty business dealings.
David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami, said Saab could be a valuable character witness against Maduro even if he himself has not been charged with drug trafficking like the former Venezuelan leader.
“The indictment against Maduro contained a lot of salacious allegations, but there was little in the way of corroboration,” said Weinstein. “Saab, if the reports about his own criminal activity and closeness to Maduro are true, can describe for jurors a range of criminal activity that is alleged to have taken place across Maduro’s government.”
Saab also has ties to Rodríguez, the Trump administration’s preferred partner to succeed Maduro. The AP reported last month that the DEA has examined Rodríguez’s involvement in government contracts awarded to Saab. The US government has never publicly accused Rodríguez of any criminal wrongdoing.
Close Maduro ally pardoned by Biden once again a target of US criminal investigation
https://arab.news/y4v3q
Close Maduro ally pardoned by Biden once again a target of US criminal investigation
House votes to slap back Trump’s tariffs on Canada in rare bipartisan rebuke
WASHINGTON: The House voted Wednesday to slap back President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, a rare if largely symbolic rebuke of the White House agenda as Republicans joined Democrats over the objections of GOP leadership.
The tally, 219-211, was among the first times the House, controlled by Republicans, has confronted the president over a signature policy, and drew instant recrimination from Trump himself. The resolution seeks to end the national emergency Trump declared to impose the tariffs, though actually undoing the policy would require support from the president, which is highly unlikely. It next goes to the Senate.
Trump believes in the power of tariffs to force US trade partners to the negotiating table. But lawmakers are facing unrest back home from businesses caught in the trade wars and constituents navigating pocketbook issues and high prices.
“Today’s vote is simple, very simple: Will you vote to lower the cost of living for the American family or will you keep prices high out of loyalty to one person — Donald J. Trump?” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who authored the resolution.
Within minutes, as the gavel struck, Trump fired off a stern warning to those in the Republican Party who would dare to cross him.
“Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!” the president posted on social media.
The high-stakes moment provides a snapshot of the House’s unease with the president’s direction, especially ahead of the midterm elections as economic issues resonate among voters. The Senate has already voted to reject Trump’s tariffs on Canada and other countries in a show of displeasure. But both chambers would have to approve the tariff rollbacks, and send the resolution to Trump for the president’s signature — or veto.
Six House Republicans voted for the resolution, and one Democrat voted against it.
From Canada, Ontario, Premier Doug Ford on social media called the vote “an important victory with more work ahead.” He thanked lawmakers from both parties “who stood up in support of free trade and economic growth between our two great countries. Let’s end the tariffs and together build a more prosperous and secure future.”
Trump recently threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on goods imported from Canada over that country’s proposed China trade deal, intensifying a feud with the longtime US ally and Prime Minister Mark Carney.
GOP defections forced the vote
House Speaker Mike Johnson tried to prevent this showdown.
Johnson insisted lawmakers wait for a pending Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit about the tariffs. He engineered a complicated rules change to prevent floor action. But Johnson’s strategy collapsed late Tuesday, as Republicans peeled off during a procedural vote to ensure the Democratic measure was able to advance.
“The president’s trade policies have been of great benefit,” Johnson, R-Louisiana, had said. “And I think the sentiment is that we allow a little more runway for this to be worked out between the executive branch and the judicial branch.”
Late Tuesday evening, Johnson could be seen speaking to holdout Republican lawmakers as the GOP leadership team struggled to shore up support during a lengthy procedural vote, but the numbers lined up against him.
“We’re disappointed,” Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, told reporters at the White House on Wednesday morning. “The president will make sure they don’t repeal his tariffs.”
Terminating Trump’s emergency
The resolution put forward by Meeks would terminate the national emergency that Trump declared a year ago as one of his executive orders.
The administration claimed illicit drug flow from Canada constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat that allows the president to slap tariffs on imported goods outside the terms of the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, said the flow of fentanyl into the US is a dire national emergency and the policy must be left in place.
“Let’s be clear again about what this resolution is and what it’s not. It’s not a debate about tariffs. You can talk about those, but that’s not really what it is,” Mast said. “This is Democrats trying to ignore that there is a fentanyl crisis.”
Experts say fentanyl produced by cartels in Mexico is largely smuggled into the US from land crossings in California and Arizona. Fentanyl is also made in Canada and smuggled into the US, but to a much lesser extent.
Torn between Trump and tariffs
Ahead of voting, some rank-and-file Republican lawmakers expressed unease over the choices ahead as Democrats — and a few renegade Republicans — impressed on their colleagues the need to flex their power as the legislative branch rather than ceding so much power to the president to take authority over trade and tariff policy.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, said he was unpersuaded by Johnson’s call to wait until the Supreme Court makes its decision about the legality of Trump’s tariffs. He voted for passage.
“Why doesn’t the Congress stand on its own two feet and say that we’re an independent branch?” Bacon said. “We should defend our authorities. I hope the Supreme Court does, but if we don’t do it, shame on us.”
Bacon, who is retiring rather than facing reelection, also argued that tariffs are bad economic policy.
Other Republicans had to swiftly make up their minds after Johnson’s gambit — which would have paused the calendar days to prevent the measure from coming forward — was turned back.
“At the end of the day, we’re going to have to support our president,” said Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said he doesn’t want to tie the president’s hands on trade and would support the tariffs on Canada “at this time.”
