Trump’s 'Venezuela' invitation to Musk raises 'fight risk' fears among legal experts

During Donald Trump’s “marathon” Monday night conversation with Elon Musk on the social media platform X, the convicted ex-president who faces criminal sentencing next month acknowledged the fact he could lose the presidential election, and invited his billionaire benefactor if he were again defeated, to “meet” with him in Venezuela, considered a “safe haven” as it has no extradition treaty with the United States.

It’s not the first time the ex-president, who is again running for re-election, has talked about traveling to Venezuela.

And while Trump is no fan of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, he has repeatedly – and falsely – claimed that nation’s authoritarian dictator reduced crime by 72%, although he alleges – also falsely – the drop was achieved by sending their criminals to the U.S.

“Venezuela was crime ridden,” Trump said May 31, “after his conviction in the hush money case,” FactCheck.org reported in June. “Caracas, their cities, crime ridden two years ago, three years ago. They just reported a 72% drop in crime in the last year because all of their criminals, most of them, and the rest are coming in now, the ones that didn’t come in. In Venezuela, their prisons have been emptied into the United States. Their criminals and drug dealers have been taken out of the cities and brought into the United States, and that’s true with many other countries.”

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Monday night, after technical glitches stalled his conversation with the owner of the social media platform who is supporting his re-election bid, including reportedly by holding “hour-long meetings” with his pro-Trump Super PAC, Trump falsely alleged the crime rate in Venezuela makes it “safer” than the United States.

“Our crime rate’s going through the roof,” Trump told Musk. But violent and property crime in the U.S. have dropped “significantly” since Trump left office, according to a CNN fact check of Trump’s conversation with Musk. Vox on Monday also reported, “Violent crime is plummeting.”

“If something happens with this election, which would be a horror show, we’ll meet the next time in Venezuela,” Trump told Musk (video below). “Because it’ll be a far safer place to meet than our country. You and I will go and we’ll have a meeting and dinner in Venezuela.”

Legal experts jumped on Trump suggesting a trip to Venezuela, especially given his status as a convicted criminal awaiting sentencing.

“Trump is a convicted felon to be sentenced in a month and he’s talking about fleeing to a country that refuses US extradition requests,” observed MSNBC legal analyst Kristy Greenberg, a former SDNY Criminal Division Deputy Chief. “Anyone else would be in jail. Trump is showing yet again that he isn’t amenable to Probation’s supervision and must be sentenced to jail time.”

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Dean Gloster, an author and “former law clerk to two U.S. Supreme Court Justices,” according to his bio, wrote: “Former attorney here. When you’re five weeks away from being sentenced for 34 felony convictions, and you don’t want your bond revoked, don’t tell everyone you’re planning to flee to Venezuela.”

National security attorney Brad Moss remarked: “No he … wait, yeah, he did. He hinted that he’ll flee the jurisdiction if he loses in November. Excuse me, probation officer?”

In a “serious note” on the Trump-Musk conversation, attorney and Colorado Sun columnist Mario Nicolais observed: “Trump said that if he loses, they will have to do the next one in Venezuela. That is a non-extradition country. When he loses, he needs to be taken into custody IMMEDIATELY. He is an obvious flight risk.”

“It doesn’t sound at all like he’s kidding,” noted U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), and it does sound like he’s thought about this.”

Indeed, as far back as June, Trump has been talking about going to Venezuela.

Last week, Trump sat down for a live-streamed conversation with far-right internet personality Adin Ross, who has also hosted white supremacists, according to Rolling Stone. During that chat Trump also hinted at traveling to Venezuela.

“If you look at Caracas,” Trump told Ross, Miami New Times reported, “it was known for being a very dangerous city and now it’s very safe. In fact, the next interview we do, we’ll do it in Caracas, Venezuela, because it’s safer than many of our cities.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.