‘The Buildup Is Real’: GOP Lawmaker Anticipates Venezuela’s Maduro Could Step Down This Week

Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) told Fox Business Network Monday that he anticipates Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro could step down as early as this week.

Cheryl Casone, in for Maria Bartiromo, asked Fitzgerald about President Donald Trump’s recent phone call with Maduro.

Trump confirmed the call to reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday but said only, “I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call.”

Casone read from a Miami Herald report: “The U.S. message to Maduro was direct. Safe passage would be guaranteed for him, his wife, and his son only if he agrees to resign right away.”

“Venezuela is condemning the president’s statement that airspace should be considered closed above the country,” Casone said. “I want to get your thoughts on this because the stakes are incredibly high here. And in particular, the legality of all of this. That has been questioned, about the president and the administration’s military operations off the coast of Venezuela.”

“Yes, you’re in for a penny, you’re in for a pound on this, and we’re in for a pound,” Fitzgerald said. “The buildup is real.”

Fitzgerald continued:

Members of Congress have been watching this. I know that there’s some that have been briefed fully on where we’re at in relation to not just Venezuela but kind of a back-and-forth with the naval fleet being as highly concentrated as it is right now out of Caracas. Listen, Maduro is…one of those individuals that I think President Trump could run circles around when it comes to negotiate. So, I’m hopeful that he is in a position now, that the president’s in a position to force the hand and that we see Maduro step down soon. I think that has been the goal since day one, and I hope it happens this week.

Watch the clip above via Fox Business Network.