President Donald Trump delivered a stern ultimatum to Nicolás Maduro to leave Venezuela immediately before announcing the country’s airspace should be closed, according to a report.

Per the Miami Herald, Washington’s warning was delivered in a phone call with Caracas and offered guaranteed evacuation for Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores, and their son, but only if the dictator agreed to resign on the spot. 

The conversation stalled, U.S. officials said, and within hours Washington escalated dramatically. 

The ensuing impasse, a source told the outlet, was over Maduro asking for «global amnesty for any crimes he and his group had committed, and that was rejected.» 

MADURO BRANDISHES SWORD AT RALLY AS HE RAILS AGAINST ‘IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION’ AMID RISING TENSIONS WITH US

«Second, they asked to retain control of the armed forces — similar to what happened in Nicaragua in ’91 with Violeta Chamorro. In return, they would allow free elections.» 

The final issue was timing, according to the outlet, as Washington demanded that Maduro resign immediately – but Caracas refused.

Trump went on to announce Saturday that Venezuelan airspace would be considered «closed in its entirety.» 

The Herald also reported that the Maduro government tried to schedule another call to Washington but received no response.

According to a defense expert familiar with the country’s military and state-linked cartel ties, Maduro and key players in his regime could now face their most serious threat yet.

«I think the operations will start imminently,» former Venezuelan diplomat Vanessa Neumann told Fox News Digital.

«The clearing of the airspace is an indication and a very clear public warning that missiles might be coming to take out command and control infrastructure or retaliatory infrastructure,» Neumann said. «This will not be like breaking a jar into a thousand pieces, this is where you can lift the concentration of power, and it’s easier to manage.»

«The targets have been identified through covert operations over the last several years by people on the ground,» she continued. «So they’re well-mapped. This is a capture-or-kill scenario, but there’s a limit to how many people you can remove quickly.»

On Sunday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One not to «read anything into» his declaring Venezuela’s airspace closed when asked if a strike was imminent. 

«Maduro also doesn’t have that many options, and his military is very weak,» she warned. «You can’t go after 30 people simultaneously, who are spread all around, but certainly high on the list would be Maduro himself.»

TRUMP PUSHES PEACE IN EUROPE, PRESSURE IN THE AMERICAS — INSIDE THE TWO-FRONT GAMBLE

U.S. strikes on drug boats near Venezuelan waters may be targeted at taking out Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. (@realDonald Trump/Truth Social; Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)

Venezuela’s armed forces, once among Latin America’s strongest, have been weakened by years of corruption, sanctions, defections, and lack of maintenance. Much of its equipment, Neumann says, has never even been serviced.

«Their material is extremely old, decayed, and has not been serviced,» Neumann explained. 

«They’ve got junk from the Russians. The stuff they originally had from the Americans is decades old and has not been serviced.

«So, they have neither the personnel, foreign support, nor the material,» she said.

Ahead of shuttering the airspace, the U.S. also officially designated the cartel allegedly linked with Venezuela’s government, the Cartel de los Soles, as a foreign terrorist organization.

«This cartel turned Venezuela’s main oil company into a narcotics trafficking money laundering operation, using the company’s access to international finance, until it was sanctioned,» Neumann, who has worked with governments on countering transnational organized crime linked to the group, explained.

«They were using Venezuelan military jets to bring in cocaine from Colombia, process it in Venezuela, and then move it into Central America and then into Europe.

IRAN BACKS MADURO TO KEEP LATIN AMERICA FOOTHOLD AS TRUMP INCREASES PRESSURE ON VENEZUELA

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro was reportedly told he must leave Venezuela to save himself and his family. (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

«Jet pilots were making a lot of money off that, and they’ve tortured people. They target people, anybody who tell on them, they’re disappeared,» Neumann said. «They’re now one of the prime drug trafficking networks into the United States and Europe, and use their military positions, including their military-to-military relations, to grow and accelerate those movements.»

In fact, in September, the European Parliament also voted in favor of the EU designating Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organization.

«The Cartel de Los Soles is also a key collaborator and financier of Hezbollah and some of the drug money has been used to fund terrorist attacks that have killed American citizens, even in the Middle East,» added Neumann, CEO of Asymmetrica Group, which specializes in defense cooperation.

The U.S. has also ramped up a military and intelligence campaign targeting drug-trafficking networks linked to Venezuela, including strikes on suspected narcotics boats.

TRUMP’S STRIKE ON CARTEL VESSEL OFF VENEZUELA SENDS WARNING TO MADURO: ‘NO SANCTUARY’

President Donald Trump walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

«The decision is President Trump’s because when he says, ‘Go’, we go. And nobody knows when he’ll say that,» Neumann said. «He has mobilized so many assets down there now. But what President Trump is doing now is long overdue.»

«The timing is right now,» she added. «Because even Maduro’s biggest backers, Russia and Iran, are both on the back foot, and China will not go that far in backing Maduro as it has bigger and broader interests throughout the region.»

She also noted that «Maduro is also weakened because his partners are weakened and have their own issues to deal with,» and that «we also now have a concentration of power and deep repression within the country that’s quite unified, which means it’s easy to flip.»

WASHINGTON’S SHADOW WAR: HOW STRIKES ON CARTELS THREATEN TO COLLAPSE MADURO’S REGIME

Government loyalists hold a poster of the late former President Hugo Chavez outside the presidential palace during a rally in support of President Nicolás Maduro’s reelection one month after the presidential vote, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024.  (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

Neumann identified others in the regime who may be targeted, including Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, Diosdado Cabello, Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace and Alexander Granko Arteaga, head of Venezuela’s counter-intelligence agency, the DGCIM.

«One of the reasons Granko is an important figure is that he’s one of the reasons why they haven’t capitulated and why there has not been a military uprising,» Neumann explained.

«It’s because of the brutality of the counter-intelligence that they do to their own military, and hundreds of soldiers are tortured. That said, the Venezuelan people have made it clear that they wanted Maduro out and fought democratically but lost,» she added.

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«They voted in elections, protested peacefully, lobbied for sanctions, and lobbied for international support,» Neumann said.

Official peace talks between the U.S. and Ukraine on ending the Ukraine war moved to a productive phase Sunday – but only after President Zelenskyy sent a new-look team to Florida, according to a former Ukrainian government official.

With Rustem Umerov now leading Zelenskyy’s team and longtime adviser and chief of staff Andriy Yermak out, the source claimed the move signaled Kyiv was reassessing its «uncompromising» stance.

The official, who spoke to Fox News Digital on condition of anonymity, said the personnel choice represented a move away from the approach that has shaped Ukraine’s diplomatic strategy for years.

«Yermak had been teaching Zelenskyy to be a ‘Father of the Nation’ and until now, the Ukrainian side has been pushing for an unachievable and uncompromising position,» the former official said.

MOMENTUM BUILDS IN UKRAINE PEACE PUSH, BUT EXPERTS FEAR PUTIN WON’T BUDGE

«Umerov is not a very impressively strong individual in politics, but he wants to achieve results and is known to be aligned with compromise.»

Ukraine’s new delegation also included Andrii Hnatov, head of the armed forces; Andrii Sybiha, the foreign minister; and Umerov, who is head of the country’s security council.

After the meeting, Umerov offered a brief assessment to reporters, saying: «We are grateful to American people, American leadership and a great team with, state secretary, Steve, with both Jared Kushner for their tremendous work with us,» he said.

«Our objective is a prosperous, strong Ukraine. We will [be] discussing [sic] the future of Ukraine. We discussed all the important matters that are important for Ukraine, for Ukrainian people. And the U.S was super supportive.»

«We already had a successful meeting in Geneva, and today we can continue this success. So at the moment, this meeting was productive and successful in the later stages.»

MOMENTUM BUILDS IN UKRAINE PEACE PUSH, BUT EXPERTS FEAR PUTIN WON’T BUDGE

The new team traveled to Florida for discussions aimed at refining President Trump’s proposed framework and his push to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Sunday’s negotiations also took place after a leak published by Bloomberg News, revealed a transcript of an Oct. 14 call where special envoy Steve Witkoff allegedly offered advice to Russian officials on how to sell a peace plan to Trump.

«The Ukrainian side had in some way undermined peace negotiations and Donald Trump’s efforts, not mentioning that it prolongs the war,» the former official said.

UKRAINIAN OFFICIAL YERMAK RESIGNS AS CORRUPTION PROBE ENCIRCLES ZELENSKYY

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, left, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio talk to the press as their consultations continue at the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

The same former official said the shift in Kyiv’s delegation followed the dramatic resignation of Yermak, after anti-corruption investigators raided his home on Friday.

«Yermak was deeply distrusted by many actors, including Western actors including the U.S. administration and including Biden’s administration,» the source added.

Despite his exit, the official warned that Yermak’s influence may still be shaping the Ukrainian team.

«Mr. Yermak is still there and, in fact, all the delegation that came to Florida includes Mr. Yermak’s people, his loyal people, very close personally to him –  people who [have] been serving him faithfully for years.»

«Yermak has not disappeared and might be on the telephone or online and ruling the agenda behind the scenes,» they added.

RUBIO, WITKOFF MEET WITH UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS IN PUSH TO FINALIZE DEAL AFTER ZELENSKYY’S TOP NEGOTIATOR RESIGNS

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio embrace after a meeting on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Hallandale Beach, Fla. (Terry Renna/AP Photo)

They said Yermak’s long-standing governing style still influences Kyiv’s political posture:

«In Ukraine, as in many post-Soviet countries, there is still the so-called ‘telephone rule’, when a powerful person can influence the outcome of any formal decision-making despite lacking formal powers and in contradiction with the law.»

«Yermak has been doing this for the last six and a half years,» the source added.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Witkoff, and senior advisor Jared Kushner led the American side in Sunday’s session.

Rubio told reporters after the meeting: «We had another very productive session. Building off Geneva, building off the events of this week,» he said.

ZELENSKYY WARNS UKRAINE FACES ‘DIFFICULT CHOICE’ AS US PEACE PLAN HITS MAJOR HURDLE 

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Jared Kushner listen as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov speaks while leading Ukrainian delegation during a meeting in Hallandale Beach, Florida, on Nov. 30, 2025.  (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

«As I told you earlier this morning, our goal here is to end the war,» he continued. «But it’s more than just to end the war. We don’t just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever. So never again will they face another invasion. And equally importantly, we want them to enter an age of true prosperity.»

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he had spoken to Rubio and Witkoff and that they were «doing well.»

«Ukraine’s got some difficult little problems,» Trump said. «They have some difficult problems. But I think Russia would like to see it end and I think Ukraine… I know Ukraine would like to see it end.»

He also said he thinks there is «a good chance we can make a deal.»

In a post shared on X, Zelenskyy highlighted Umerov’s work in Florida as the head of the Ukrainian delegation.

«Today, following the work of the teams in the United States, head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov reported on the main parameters of the dialogue, its emphases, and some preliminary results,» he said.

«It is important that the talks have a constructive dynamic and that all issues were discussed openly and with a clear focus on ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and national interests. I am grateful to the United States, to President Trump’s team, and to the President personally for the time that is being invested so intensively in defining the steps to end the war. We will continue working. I look forward to receiving a full report from our team during a personal meeting.»

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Sunday’s talks came just hours after another deadly Russian strike on Kyiv killed at least one person and wounded 19, including four children, Euronews reported.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the war has left huge areas of Ukraine devastated and roughly 20% of its territory under occupation.

In the wake of last year’s tumultuous presidential election, which exhausted many Americans, it was expected to be quiet on the 2025 campaign trail.

But with President Donald Trump back in the White House and Democrats itching to rebound after last year’s ballot box setbacks, 2025’s off-year elections were anything but sedate.

Here are five of the biggest moments that shaped the campaign trail.

5. Democrats overperform in special elections

Just eight days into Trump’s second term in the White House, demoralized Democrats had something to cheer about.

SETTING THE STAGE: WHAT THE 2025 ELECTIONS SIGNAL FOR NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERM SHOWDOWNS

Democrat Mike Zimmer defeated Republican Katie Whittington in a special state Senate election in Iowa, flipping a Republican-controlled vacant seat in a district that Trump had carried by 21 points less than three months earlier.

Zimmer’s victory triggered a wave of Democrats overperforming in special elections and regularly scheduled off-year ballot box contests.

In Iowa, Democrats in August flipped another Republican-held seat in a state Senate special election, breaking the GOP’s supermajority in the upper chamber for the first time in three years.

«Since the president was inaugurated back in January, there’s been 45 elections on the ballot. Democrats have overperformed in all of them to the tune of about 16 percentage points on average,» Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin touted in a Fox News Digital interview days ahead of the 2025 elections.

4. Inflation persists, making affordability issue No. 1 on the campaign trail

It was the issue that boosted Trump and Republicans in the 2024 elections, as they won back the White House and Senate majority and kept control of the House.

But a year later, the economy, and everyday expenses in particular, are working against the president and his party in the 2025 elections.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SAY WHITE HOUSE IS DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD ON ECONOMY

Democrats, with an across-the-board focus on affordability, enjoyed sweeping success at the ballot box earlier this month, with double-digit victories in the gubernatorial showdowns in blue-leaning but competitive New Jersey and Virginia, as well as major victories in high-profile contests in battlegrounds Georgia and Pennsylvania and solidly blue New York City and California.

Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill votes on Election Day, in Montclair, New Jersey, on Nov. 4, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

«Voters are remarkably consistent in their priorities: the economy, the economy, the economy,» noted Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and president of New England College.

«When you win an election, voters expect you are going to do something to address those concerns and the reality is that the questions of affordability remain unchanged in their importance to the everyday voter.»

3. Jay Jones text messages revealed, rocking the Virginia elections

Virginia Democrats were cruising toward convincing victories in the commonwealth’s statewide elections when a scandal sent shockwaves up and down the ballot.

Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones instantly went into crisis mode after controversial texts were first reported earlier by the National Review in early October.

Jay Jones addresses supporters after winning the Democratic nomination for Virginia attorney general as wife Mavis Jones looks on in Norfolk, on June 17, 2025. (Trevor Metcalfe/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Jones acknowledged and apologized for texts he sent in 2022, when he compared then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert to mass murderers Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot, adding that if he was given two bullets, he would use both against the GOP lawmaker to shoot him in the head.

But Jones faced a chorus of calls from Republicans to drop out of the race.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2025 ELECTIONS 

And the GOP leveraged the explosive revelations up the ballot, forcing Democratic Party nominee, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, back on defense in a campaign where she was seen as the frontrunner against Republican rival Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.

Earle-Sears didn’t waste an opportunity to link Spanberger to Jones. And during last month’s chaotic and only gubernatorial debate, where Earle-Sears repeatedly interrupted Spanberger, the GOP gubernatorial nominee called on her Democratic rival to tell Jones to end his attorney general bid.

«The comments that Jay Jones made are absolutely abhorrent,» Spanberger said at the debate. But she neither affirmed nor pulled back her support of Jones.

While the scandal grabbed national headlines, in the end it didn’t slow down the Democrats, as Spanberger crushed Earle-Sears by 15 points. Democrats won the separate election for lieutenant governor by 11 points and Jones even pulled off a 6-point victory over Republican incumbent Jason Miyares.

2. Trump urges Texas to redistrict

Aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections, Trump in June first floated the idea of rare but not unheard of mid-decade congressional redistricting.

The mission was simple: redraw congressional district maps in red states to pad the GOP’s razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

Trump’s first target: Texas.

A month later, when asked by reporters about his plan to add Republican-leaning House seats across the country, the president said, «Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.»

The push by Trump and his political team triggered a high-stakes redistricting showdown with Democrats to shape the 2026 midterm landscape in the fight for the House majority.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas called a special session of the GOP-dominated state legislature to pass the new map.

ELECTION REFLECTION: ‘DEMOCRATS FLIPPED THE SCRIPT’ ON AFFORDABILITY IN BALLOT BOX SHOWDOWNS

But Democratic state lawmakers, who broke quorum for two weeks as they fled Texas in a bid to delay the passage of the redistricting bill, energized Democrats across the country.

Among those leading the fight against Trump’s redistricting was Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during an election night press conference at a California Democratic Party office on Nov. 4, 2025, in Sacramento. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)

California voters earlier this month overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative which will temporarily sidetrack the left-leaning state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democratic-dominated legislature.

That is expected to result in five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which aimed to counter the move by Texas to redraw their maps.

Meanwhile, an opinion by two federal judges in Texas this month delivered a blow to Trump and Republicans, by ruling that the state can’t use the newly drawn map in next year’s elections. Texas Republicans say they’ll appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

But the fight has spread beyond Texas and California.

Right-tilting Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have drawn new maps as part of the president’s push. And red-leaning Indiana, Florida and Kansas are also mulling redrawing their maps.

«We must keep the Majority at all costs,» Trump wrote on social media this month.

Illinois and Maryland, two blue states, and Virginia, where Democrats control the legislature, are also taking steps or seriously considering redistricting.

And in a blow to Republicans, a Utah district judge this month rejected a congressional district map drawn up by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature and instead approved an alternate that will create a Democratic-leaning district ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

1. Mamdani wins NYC mayoral primary

Zohran Mamdani’s convincing June 24 victory in New York City’s Democratic Party mayoral primary was the political earthquake that rocked the nation’s most populous city and sent powerful shockwaves across the country.

The capturing of the Democratic nomination by the now-34-year-old socialist state lawmaker over frontrunner former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates propelled Mamdani to this month’s general election victory.

Zohran Mamdani speaks to supporters during a primary election night gathering on June 24, 2025, in the Queens borough of New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

While Mamdani’s 9-point general election victory is a shot in the arm for the rise of the socialist movement as it battles moderate Democrats for the future of the party, it also appears to be the political gift that keeps on giving for Republicans, as they aim to paint all Democrats as far-left radicals.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) was one of the first out of the gate to capitalize on the leftward lurch, firing off an email release minutes after Mamdani’s primary victory, arguing that «every vulnerable House Democrat will own him, and every Democrat running in a primary will fear him.»

And this month, immediately after Mamdani became mayor-elect, the NRCC claimed «the new face of the Democrat Party just dropped, and it’s straight out of a socialist nightmare.»

President Donald Trump met with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, in the Oval Office at the White House, on Nov. 21, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

But Trump’s very chummy meeting with Mamdani recently at the White House seemed to undercut the GOP strategy to use the mayor-elect as a human cudgel.

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Democrats insist that the effort to link Mamdani is a distraction from Republicans’ inability to deal with the affordability issue.

«Republican operatives in D.C. know they can’t win on the issues, so we’re seeing them melt down in real time, resorting to ineffective boogeyman attacks. It’s embarrassing,» the rival Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee charged.