Le Journal

White House Aims For Cuba Regime Change By Year-End Brimming with bravado after snatching Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a lightning raid on Caracas earlier this month, the Trump administration has now set a goal to end Communism in Cuba by the end of the year, according to sources who talked to the Wall Street Journal. Using the Venezuela operation as a blueprint, the White House is working to identify people inside the Cuban government who could be ripe for making a deal in which they use their position to help oust the current leadership, including President and First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel. Maduro's capture was reportedly enabled by an asset in his inner circle, who helped the CIA closely monitor Maduro's movements and daily habits ahead of the brazen snatch-and-grab mission. White House eyeing a one-two punch: Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel with then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (Cubainformación TV) Following Maduro's ouster, Trump used his Truth Social account to warn that the Venezuela operation spelled doom for the communist government of Cuba, and that they should cut a "deal" soon: "Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided “Security Services” for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE! Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last weeks U.S.A. attack...THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE." According to the Journal's sources, the White House views the Cuban regime as teetering on the edge of collapse, and increasingly vulnerable with the loss of its Venezuelan trading partners. Assessments by the U.S. intelligence community paint a grim picture inside the communist nation, with Cuba’s tourism and agriculture industries significantly affected by shortages of medicine and basic necessities, routine blackouts, trade sanctions, and a host of other problems. Tourism has declined since the COVID-19 pandemic, and Cuba's economy has retracted alongside Venezuela’s over the past decade. China is delivering 30,000 tons of rice to Cuba, which is facing severe food and fuel shortages due to the U.S. blockade. The delivery is part of a new Chinese emergency aid program, and the first shipment arrived on Monday with the second shipment arriving at the Port of… pic.twitter.com/apHUokTk6Z — BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) January 20, 2026 Amid growing unease with Trump's interventionism -- including among a broad swath of conservatives -- Trump officials who spoke to the Journal sought to distinguish the administration's activism from the long line of regime-change efforts he railed against as a candidate: Some Trump officials said the president rejects regime-change strategies of the past. Instead, he looks to make deals where possible and to take advantage of opportunities as they come up, a senior Trump official said. As in Venezuela, this could look like escalating pressure while indicating the White House is open to negotiating an off-ramp, the official said. -- WSJ A "White House official" reiterated Trump's warning about making a deal while there's still time, saying, “Cuba’s rulers are incompetent Marxists who have destroyed their country, and they have had a major setback with the Maduro regime that they are responsible for propping up." While the rhetoric suggests a preference for an ouster facilitated solely through the use of enterprising insiders, it seems one can't rule out another military assault. Cuban blood has already been shed in Trump's push to establish a new level of US dominance over the Americas, as 32 soldiers and intel agents were killed in the Jan. 3 US assault on Caracas. Some observers worry that a collapse of the Cuban government could bring about a major humanitarian crisis that could usher in yet another costly US nation-building program, and waves of refugees seeking asylum. In contrast to Venezuela,…

House Speaker Endorses Impeachment Of Federal Judges Over Rulings Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Jan. 21 that he would support articles of impeachment against some federal judges after congressional Republicans floated the prospect last year. During a press conference, a reporter asked Johnson about Senate Republicans suggesting that the House bring articles of impeachment against judges. Multiple Republicans have signaled they want to impeach two U.S. district judges, James Boasberg and Deborah Boardman. “I’m for it,” Johnson said during the Wednesday news conference alongside other Republican House members. “Judge Boasberg is one who’s been mentioned.” “Impeachment, as we have discussed all together many, many times, is an extreme measure. But extreme times call for extreme measures. And I think some of these judges have gotten so far outside the bounds of where they’re supposed to operate, it would not be, in my view, a bad thing for Congress to lay down the law, so to speak, and to make an example of some of these egregious abuses,” the House speaker said, without naming other judges. He did not offer a timeline on when impeachment articles could be introduced. “We’ll see where it goes,” he said. The House requires a simple majority to impeach an official such as a judge, but the bar is raised much higher in the Senate. A two-thirds majority in the upper chamber is needed to convict and remove an official if and after a House impeachment passes. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) in March introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg following court decisions that barred Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan illegal immigrant gang members. The lawmaker also moved to introduce articles to impeach Boasberg in November over a separate decision related to the Arctic Frost investigation. In October, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced an impeachment resolution targeting Boardman for a sentencing decision that she made for a man accused of plotting to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The man, Nicholas Roske, was sentenced to 8 years in prison, while prosecutors had sought upwards of 30 years of imprisonment. The text of the resolution states that Boardman should be impeached for handing down an “indefensibly light sentence” to Roske, who prosecutors had said had traveled to Kavanaugh’s home in June 2022 with a plan to kill the justice before he called the authorities on himself. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the chair of the Commerce Committee, said in a Senate hearing earlier this month that he wants impeachment proceedings against Boardman and Boasberg, saying that “both ... meet the standard for impeachment and for conviction and removal of office.” Democrats in Congress say, however, that the impeachment efforts are misguided and pointless. Among them is Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who this week said in a statement that a call to impeach Boardman over the Roske sentencing “contradicts basic law and history.” Whitehouse, who is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee, said that in the case, “a notice of appeal has been filed regarding that sentencing, so it remains an active judicial proceeding, not a proper subject of partisan legislative pressure,” according to a Jan. 20 news release from his office. Whitehouse characterized impeachment suggestions against Boasberg as part of an unjust “barrage of threats by the MAGA movement and the Trump administration” that “appear intended to intimidate” the judge. Tyler Durden Thu, 01/22/2026 - 20:55