Donald Trump reportedly had a blunt message for Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro: leave power – and your country – immediately.
Sources told the Miami Herald the US president had a phone call with his South American counterpart, who is the focus of a four-month pressure campaign in which Trump has ordered a major naval deployment off Venezuela’s northern coast.
“You can save yourself and those closest to you, but you must leave the country now,” Trump reportedly said, offering safe passage for Maduro, his wife and his son “only if he agreed to resign right away”.
However, Venezuela’s president reportedly refused to step down immediately and allegedly made a series of counter-demands, including worldwide immunity from prosecution and being allowed to cede political control but keep control of the armed forces.
It’s the latest ratcheting up of tensions between the two nations. Trump on Monday reportedly met with his top national security advisers to discuss Venezuela, though details of that meeting were not known.
Trump reportedly gave Maduro ultimatum to relinquish power
Donald Trump reportedly gave Nicolás Maduro an ultimatum to relinquish power immediately during their recent call – but Venezuela’s authoritarian leader declined, demanding a “global amnesty” for himself and allies.
On Sunday, Trump confirmed the call had taken place, telling reporters: “I wouldn’t say it went well or badly, it was a phone call.”
Neither the US nor Venezuelan government have offered further details of the topics discussed during the highly unusual conversation, which is thought to have happened on 21 November.
EU fears US-Russia talks may pile pressure on Kyiv to make concessions
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has said she fears talks between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will pile pressure on Ukraine to make concessions with the two men expected to meet on Tuesday.
FBI has become ‘internally paralyzed by fear’, report reveals
The FBI director, Kash Patel, is “in over his head” and leading a “chronically under-performing” agency paralyzed by fear and plummeting morale, according to a scathing 115-page report compiled by a national alliance of retired and active-duty FBI special agents and analysts.
Trump says he has ‘no idea’ what part of him was scanned in MRI
Donald Trump said he will release the results of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan conducted during his surprise “semiannual physical” in October – but was unable to tell reporters what part of his body was under investigation.
The oldest-ever US president faced questions over the procedure on Air Force One as he traveled back to Washington DC on Sunday night after a Thanksgiving break in Florida. Asked if he would make public the outcome of the scan, Trump said: “If you want to have it released, I’ll release it.”
What else happened today:
A Republican Indiana lawmaker whose child has Down syndrome has promised to oppose efforts to redraw the state’s congressional map to favor his party after Donald Trump aimed a slur for people with intellectual disabilities at a political opponent.
Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba, whom his administration has maneuvered to keep in place as New Jersey top federal prosecutor, is disqualified from serving in the role, an appeals court said on Monday.
The UK’s National Health Service is to pay 25% more for innovative drugs in return for zero tariffs on exports of pharmaceuticals to the US under a deal with Donald Trump’s government.
Actor Josh Brolin says President Trump was a “different guy” when he first met him in 2009, and that “there is no greater genius than [Trump] in marketing”. Brolin was speaking to the Independent to promote his new film Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and said that while his clergyman character was not based on the president, there was a similarity in that once he “garners a sense of power, then there are no boundaries”.
A raid by federal immigration authorities on Saturday in New York City was thwarted by about 200 protesters, several of whom were arrested after scuffles with police officers.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 30 November 2025.
