Trump Resurfaces Claims That Venezuelan Regime Played a Role in Rigging 2020 Election

President Donald Trump amplified content promoting a discredited conspiracy theory alleging that Venezuela's regime controls electronic voting systems worldwide and influenced the outcome of the 2020 U.S. election, a claim that has been repeatedly dismissed by courts and previously central to high-profile defamation settlements.

In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump shared a podcast segment hosted by journalist Lara Logan featuring former CIA officer Gary Berntsen and Venezuelan expatriate Martin Rodil, both of whom have been promoting allegations that Venezuela manipulates electronic voting globally. "We must focus all of our energy and might on ELECTION FRAUD!!" Trump wrote, without explicitly mentioning Venezuela.

Trump's endorsement of the theory came two days after the Guardian reported that federal investigators have been interviewing individuals advancing the same claims. According to the report, U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow in Puerto Rico has repeatedly met with Berntsen and Rodil, who say they have provided documents and witnesses in support of their assertions. Federal investigators in Tampa have also interviewed individuals connected to the theory as part of a broader taskforce that typically focuses on Venezuelan organized crime.

The allegations mirror those that led to Dominion Voting Systems' 2023 settlement with Fox News for $787 million and to additional settlements by Newsmax and OAN, after a Delaware judge ruled the claims false. They center on the idea that companies such as Smartmatic and Dominion were created or influenced by the Venezuelan government to alter election results — an assertion rejected by courts, election officials, and security agencies.

Trump's remarks also coincide with escalating U.S. pressure on Venezuela. The administration has deployed significant military assets to the Caribbean and on Monday designated the Venezuelan-based so-called Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

The conspiracy theory has also circulated among some Venezuelan opposition figures, most notably Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado. In an interview published in early November, Machado claimed without evidence that Maduro and other senior officials helped manipulate the 2020 U.S. election and that she had "no doubt" Venezuelan authorities were "the brains behind a system that has manipulated elections in many countries, including the United States."