Trump open to meeting Venezuela's Maduro

Trump said in an exclusive interview with Axios that he would consider meeting Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro and that he’s had second thoughts about recognising Juan Guaidó as the country's legitimate leader.

Trump was asked if he would meet Maduro, to which he answered: "I would maybe think about that [...] Maduro would like to meet. And I'm never opposed to meetings — you know, rarely opposed to meetings.

"I always say, you lose very little with meetings. But at this moment, I've turned them down."

Trump added that he did not have much confidence in Guaidó, who has failed to wrest control of the Venezuelan government despite enjoying broad international support.

He said he did not regret ignoring the advice of former security adviser John Bolton to not recognise Guaidó but said that he “could have lived with it or without it” but “was very firmly against what's going on in Venezuela."

"Guaidó was elected. I think that I wasn't necessarily in favor, but I said — some people that liked it, some people didn't. I was OK with it. I don't think it was — you know, I don't think it was very meaningful one way or the other."

According to Axios, if Trump were to meet with Maduro, it could upend his administration’s policy on Venezuela.

In March, Attorney General Bill Barr announced that the Justice Department was charging Maduro with narcoterrorism. The DOJ press release announcing the charges referred to him as the "Former President of Venezuela."

Recently, Bolton announced the release of his new book, "The Room Where It Happened," where he exposes many details of the Trump administration. In it he also writes of Trump's private feelings about Guaidó.

“He thought Guaidó was 'weak,' as opposed to Maduro, who was 'strong.'”

He adds, "by spring, Trump was calling Guaidó the 'Beto O'Rourke of Venezuela,' hardly the sort of compliment an ally of the United States should expect."