🇻🇪📞🇺🇸 — NEW: Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro asked the U.S. for permission to keep $200 million of his personal wealth, amnesty for his officials, and safe exile in a friendly country as part of a deal to step down, according to The Telegraph.

➡️ During the roughly 15-minute call with President Trump, the two disagreed on where Maduro would go: Trump suggested China or Russia, while Maduro wanted to stay in the Western Hemisphere, preferably in Cuba. Qatar has since emerged as a possible compromise.

➡️ Much of the discussion focused on Maduro’s desire to live comfortably in exile. Keeping $200 million, possibly from U.S.-frozen assets, was not the major obstacle.

➡️ The real issue was his demand that dozens of associates receive amnesty and that key allies be allowed to run a transitional government until elections could be held.

➡️ Sources say Maduro fears retaliation from powerful figures if he abandons allies to prosecution, describing his position as driven by “self-preservation.”

➡️ The U.S. rejected broad amnesty, which would leave intact the Cartel de los Soles, military, and political figures. Washington labels it a foreign terrorist organization and accuses it of running much of Venezuela’s drug trade.

@TabZLIVE