A former Green Beret accused of plotting an invasion of Venezuela in 2020 to try to overthrow Nicolás Maduro lashed out Friday at the CIA and FBI, claiming they sabotaged his efforts to oust the leftist leader. His lawyers asserted that he had the Trump administration’s support for the clandestine mission.
Attorneys for Jordan Goudreau stated in court filings for the first time that the decorated combat veteran had “authority from the highest levels of the executive branch” for the amphibious raid that ended up with several combatants killed and two of his U.S. Special Forces colleagues in a Venezuelan prison.
The filing in Tampa federal court, where Goudreau is facing weapons smuggling charges, coincided with his reappearance Friday on social media in which he claims a skittish U.S. government emboldened Maduro.
The video was published as Maduro was being sworn in for a third term in office on Friday amid rebukes from the United States and others who believe he stole last year’s election.
“I want to congratulate the CIA and FBI on a job well done. Because of your efforts in Venezuela in 2020 to sabotage my executive-branch directed operation Nicolas Maduro is getting sworn in today,” Goudreau, flashing a thumb-up sign, said in a short video on Instagram. “Good job, fellas!”
The CIA and FBI declined to comment.
Goudreau was arrested in Manhattan on federal weapons smuggling charges last year, in connection to the bizarre plot.
Two days before the planned incursion, the AP published an investigation detailing Goudreau’s efforts to raise funds for the raid from the Trump administration, Venezuela’s opposition and wealthy Americans looking to invest in Venezuela’s oil industry — should Maduro be removed.
The AP investigation found no evidence that the U.S. approved the invasion and U.S. officials have denied having any role in it.
The ragtag group of Venezuelan army deserters whom Goudreau allegedly helped arm and train in neighboring Colombia went ahead with the raid, only to be scooped up by Venezuela’s security forces, which had already infiltrated the group. Several were killed and two of Goudreau’s former Green Beret colleagues spent years in Venezuela’s prisons until a prisoner swap last year.
The raid, dubbed “Operation Gideon,” ended up delivering a PR coup for Maduro, who has long accused the U.S. of covert actions to destabilize his rule, and became widely ridiculed as the “Bay of Piglets,” in reference to the 1961 Cuban fiasco.
Goudreau’s attorneys allege he was recruited for “Operation Gideon” by Keith Schiller, a longtime personal bodyguard to President-elect Donald Trump. They said Schiller, who was not employed by the U.S. government at the time, took him to a meeting with several aides of opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
Miami-based attorney Marissel Descalzo said in her filing that the aides were looking for someone to assist “Guaidó with efforts to remove President Maduro.”
“Mr. Goudreau was advised that the operation was sanctioned and approved by the executive branch, particularly Vice President Mike Pence,” Descalzo wrote.
The then-Trump administration had made no secret of its desire to see Maduro gone and Goudreau’s one-man security firm, Florida-based Silvercorp USA, had signed a contract with Guaidó to explore a mission to seize Maduro, who had a $15 million bounty on his head on drug trafficking charges in the U.S.
The Biden administration on Friday raised the reward to $25 million to protest Maduro’s clinging to power.
Goudreau also claims he met in Washington with two U.S. officials, one of whom briefly worked in Pence’s office. The former vice president has denied any knowledge of the plot and called Goudreau’s claims a complete fabrication.
Guaidó’s Miami-based aides broke off all communications with Goudreau several months before the raid, saying they believe he was mentally unstable and had no support from the U.S. government for the covert operation.
The Trump administration disavowed all links to the plot but Goudreau appears to hold out hope he will get a reprieve once the president-elect returns to office later this month.
In an earlier video post this week, Goudreau likened his legal woes to those faced by defendants charged with invading the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election results.
“I can’t wait for Trump to get into office and absolutely annihilate the Department of Justice,” he says in that video.
Filmmaker Jen Gatien, who made a documentary about Goudreau called “Men at War,” put up her $2 million Manhattan loft as bond to secure Goudreau’s release as he prepares for trial set to begin in April. As conditions for his release, he is not allowed to leave the state of Florida, where he is residing at the home of a fellow vet.
Prosecutors said they plan to present DNA evidence at Goudreau’s trial, showing he handled some of the 60 weapons he allegedly smuggled from Florida to Colombia as part of the plot against Maduro.
Prosecutors allege Goudreau also spent $90,000 on a yacht he used to transport ammunition, body armor plates and magazines for AR-15 rifles.
The yacht, purchased in Miami, sank in the Caribbean Sea. Goudreau and an unnamed associate were rescued by a tanker passing nearby.
– Joshua Goodman, AP News
