The interim government in Venezuela has released at least four U.S. citizens who were imprisoned under President Nicolás Maduro’s regime, Fox News confirmed.

The release marks the first known release of Americans in the South American country since the U.S. military completed an operation to capture authoritarian Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is now facing federal drug trafficking charges in New York.

‘We welcome the release of detained Americans in Venezuela,’ a State Department official said Tuesday. ‘This is an important step in the right direction by the interim authorities.’

The release of American citizens was first reported by Bloomberg.

President Donald Trump said Saturday that Venezuela had begun releasing political prisoners.

‘Venezuela has started the process, in a BIG WAY, of releasing their political prisoners,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘Thank you! I hope those prisoners will remember how lucky they got that the USA came along and did what had to be done.’

Venezuela’s interim government has reported that 116 prisoners have been released, although only about 70 have been verified by the non-governmental organization Justicia, Encuentro y Perdón, according to Bloomberg.

National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said prisoner releases would continue, according to the outlet.

The U.S. government issued a new security alert Saturday urging Americans in Venezuela to leave the country immediately, citing security concerns and limited ability to provide emergency assistance, the U.S. Embassy in Caracas said.

‘U.S. citizens in Venezuela should leave the country immediately,’ the embassy said in the alert.

The warning pointed to reports of armed groups operating on Venezuelan roads.

Following the military operation, Trump suggested that the U.S. would ‘run’ Venezuela for an extended period.

‘We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,’ he said.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., accused his ‘pro-life’ Republican colleagues of not caring about the people killed in boat strikes near Venezuela who the Trump administration, without providing evidence, claims were trafficking fentanyl.

During an appearance on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ released on Tuesday. Paul said GOP lawmakers ‘don’t give a s‑‑-‘ about the people who died on the vessels, blasting his colleagues for not granting the presumption of innocence.

‘I look at my colleagues who say they’re pro-life, and they value God’s inspiration in life, but they don’t give a s‑‑- about these people in the boats,’ Paul said. ‘Are they terrible people in the boats? I don’t know. They’re probably poor people in Venezuela and Colombia.’

‘I guess what I don’t feel connected to my Republican colleagues is that those lives don’t matter at all, and we just blow them up. And against all justice, and against all laws of war, all laws of just war, we have never blown up people who were shipwrecked,’ he added, referring to the administration’s reported targeting and killing of survivors of initial strikes who were clinging to wreckage.

The liberty-minded Republican said it is ‘against the military code of justice to do that.’

‘We’re doing it and everybody just says, ‘Oh, well, they’re drug dealers,” he said.

Paul criticized his fellow GOP lawmakers who have repeated the administration’s claims about the boats carrying fentanyl. He also took issue with colleagues who hold the position of, ‘Well, we’re at war with them. They’re committing war by bringing drugs into America.’

‘They’re not even coming here,’ Paul explained. ‘They’re going to these islands in the south part of the Caribbean. The cocaine — and it’s not fentanyl at all — the cocaine’s going to Europe.’

He emphasized that ‘those little boats can’t get here.’

‘No one’s even asked this common question: Those boats have these four engines on them. They’re outboard boats. You can probably go about 100 miles before you have to refuel. Two thousand miles from us, they’d have to refuel 20 times to get here,’ Paul said.

The senator accused the administration of conducting the boat strikes to create ‘a pretense and a false argument’ ahead of the operation to attack Venezuela and arrest its president, Nicolás Maduro.

‘It’s all been a pretense for arresting Maduro,’ he said. ‘So, we have to set up the predicate. We got to show you we care about drugs.’

Paul helped the Senate advance a resolution last week that would limit Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela after the U.S. military’s recent move to strike the country and capture Maduro, which the Kentucky Republican said amounts to war. The Upper Chamber could pass the measure later this week, although it faces an uphill battle in the House despite some support from Republicans.

‘I think bombing a capital and removing the head of state is, by all definitions, war,’ Paul told reporters before the procedural vote last week. ‘Does this mean we have carte blanche that the president can make the decision any time, anywhere, to invade a foreign country and remove people that we’ve accused of a crime?’

The lawmaker has repeatedly criticized the administration’s boat strikes on alleged narco-terrorists in recent months, often raising concerns about killing people without due process and the possibility of killing innocent people. The senator previously cited Coast Guard statistics that show a significant percentage of boats boarded on suspicion of drug trafficking are innocent.

Paul said on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ that he believes the administration might attack Mexico next, which Trump has signaled could be a future target.

‘They want to do that next. They want to bomb Mexico,’ Paul said.

Trump has said cartels are ‘running Mexico’ and that ‘something’s going to have to be done’ because Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is ‘very frightened’ of the cartels.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., suggested Tuesday that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should resign to avoid a potential indictment, arguing the move could prompt the Department of Justice (DOJ) to drop its investigation.

The suggestion comes after the DOJ announced Sunday it has opened a criminal probe into Powell focused on the renovation of the central bank’s Washington headquarters and whether he was truthful in his congressional testimony regarding the project.

‘If you’re the attorney for Jay Powell and you want to avoid an indictment, how about you go to Jeanine Pirro and say, ‘I’ll make a deal. I’ll step down today if you’ll drop the investigation today,” Cramer said on FOX Business’ ‘Kudlow.’

Cramer added that his proposed legal strategy would be ‘a win-win for everybody.’

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said on X Monday that her office had contacted the Fed ‘on multiple occasions to discuss cost overruns and the chairman’s congressional testimony, but were ignored, necessitating the use of legal process — which is not a threat.’

‘The word ‘indictment’ has come out of Mr. Powell’s mouth, no one else’s,’ Pirro continued. ‘None of this would have happened if they had just responded to our outreach. This office makes decisions based on the merits, nothing more and nothing less. We agree with the chairman of the Federal Reserve that no one is above the law, and that is why we expect his full cooperation.’

Powell provided testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last year regarding a significant renovation to two main office buildings in the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The project is expected to cost $2.5 billion and is being paid for by the central bank, not taxpayers.

Powell confirmed in a video statement Sunday that the Federal Reserve had been served ‘with grand jury subpoenas’ that threatened ‘a criminal indictment.’

While Powell said he respected the rule of law and congressional oversight, he asserted that the Justice Department’s move was ‘unprecedented’ and politically motivated.

‘This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings,’ he said. He added that the threat of criminal charges is a ‘consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president.’

A spokesperson for the Fed told Fox News Digital the Fed would not have any comment beyond Powell’s video message from Sunday.

Cramer cautioned on ‘Kudlow’ that an indictment could negatively impact the economy.

‘I don’t want to do anything to disrupt this incredible rocket ship economy we’re enjoying right now,’ he said. ‘We’ve got other big things to do that I’d rather focus on than an indictment.’

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.

Recently unredacted construction plans for China’s new super embassy in London have ignited a storm of national security concerns across the United Kingdom, as blueprints reveal a hidden underground room positioned alarmingly close to some of Britain’s most sensitive communication cables.

Major critics of the proposed site, which will run as close as three feet to the internet infrastructure, warned that the secret room could serve as a hub for Chinese espionage. While the British government reportedly assured its allies that the lines do not carry sensitive government data, the cables transmit financial transactions as well as communication traffic for millions of internet users.  

The blueprints were publicly unredacted Monday by The Telegraph, just one week before Prime Minister Keir Starmer is widely expected to approve the plans before his visit to see President Xi Jinping in China.  

A government spokesman told the outlet that despite the security concerns, ‘national security is our first duty and government security experts have been involved throughout the process so far.’

According to the blueprint, the facility will be located at the former Royal Mint and will become Europe’s largest Chinese embassy. 

Construction plans indicate that China intends to demolish and rebuild a basement wall, placing officials and equipment just over three feet from critical fiber-optic cables. Security experts have warned that such proximity could create opportunities for ‘cable-tapping,’ which involves inserting wiretaps or reading light signals leaking from the lines.

Professor Alan Woodward, a security expert at the University of Surrey, highlighted the technical feasibility of espionage given the physical layout, The Telegraph reported. He described the demolition as a ‘red flag’ and noted, ‘If I were in their shoes, having those cables on my doorstep would be an enormous temptation.’

Additionally, the concealed chamber appears to be equipped with at least two hot-air extraction systems designed to ventilate heat-generating equipment. Experts reportedly inferred that this infrastructure suggests that the room is designed to accommodate high-powered technology such as advanced computers typically used for espionage and data processing. 

Beyond the single chamber near the cables, the unredacted plans also revealed a network of 208 secret rooms beneath the diplomatic site. The basement appears to allow for emergency backup generators, sprinkler systems, communications cabling and showers, suggesting that officials could remain underground for extended periods, potentially to operate or monitor equipment.

The construction plans have generally raised fears that the London complex could serve as a Beijing intelligence hub. According to U.K. outlet The Times, Britain has been pressured to reassure the United States and other intelligence partners that the cables do not transmit any sensitive government data.

Alicia Kearns, the shadow national security minister and prominent critic of the project, described the approval of the embassy as handing Beijing a strategic advantage against British interests.  

‘Giving China the go-ahead for its embassy site would be to gift them a launchpad for economic warfare at the very heart of the central nervous system of our critical financial national infrastructure,’ she said in a post on X.  

Iranian security forces escalated from pellet guns to live ammunition during protests, sharply increasing casualties, a doctor who treated wounded demonstrators told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

Speaking after fleeing the country, the doctor told CHRI the use of live fire increased the death toll days after protests erupted Dec. 28.

‘Law enforcement forces were firing pellet shotguns that scatter pellets. During those days, I received five or six calls per day about people who had been hit by two pellets in the back or pellets to the head or scalp,’ the doctor claimed.

The doctor said he noticed the situation shifted on Jan. 8, when authorities imposed internet blackouts and cut off communication nationwide.

‘From about 8:10 to 8:20 pm, the sound of bullets, gunfire, screams, and sporadic explosions could be heard. I was called to the hospital. When I arrived, I saw that the nature of the injuries and the number of gunshot wounds had changed completely,’ the doctor said of the days around the blackout.

‘The situation was totally different. Shots from close range, injuries leading to death.’

Human rights groups say thousands have been killed as security forces moved to suppress the demonstrations, with some estimates placing the death toll above 3,000, Fox News’ chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reported Tuesday.

The protests were fueled by anger over economic hardship, rising prices and inflation before expanding into broader anti-government demonstrations.

‘The calls I received on my home phone for medical advice were no longer about pellet wounds,’ the doctor said. ‘People were saying they had been shot, with bullets entering one side of the body and exiting the other. Live ammunition.’

Describing scenes in Isfahan, which is a major protest hub, the doctor said streets were stained with blood as security forces deployed heavier weapons.

‘A large amount of blood, about a liter, had pooled in the gutter and blood trails extended for several meters,’ the doctor claimed.

‘The level and intensity of violence increased step by step,’ he said before describing a change in aggression on Jan. 9.

‘On Friday night, I heard automatic gunfire. I am familiar with weapons and can distinguish their sounds. I heard DShK heavy machine guns. I heard PK machine guns.

‘These weapons are in the possession of IRGC units — DShKs, PK machine guns, and Kalashnikovs,’ the doctor said. ‘The trauma cases I saw were brutal, shoot-to-kill.’

Victims ranged from teenagers to elderly men, the doctor said. Some injuries were so severe that bodies were unrecognizable.

‘One colleague said that during a night shift, eight bodies were brought in with gunshot wounds to the face; their faces were unrecognizable. Many bodies are not identifiable at all,’ he added.

The account comes as President Donald Trump publicly voiced support for Iranian protesters. 

On Tuesday, Trump urged Iranians to ‘take over’ their institutions, saying he had canceled all meetings with Iranian officials until the crackdown ends.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is facing backlash from the MAGA base after voting with Democrats and a small group of Republican senators to advance a war powers resolution related to Venezuela — marking a break with President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, the Senate is expected to hold a full vote on the resolution that would limit Trump’s ability to conduct future military operations against Venezuela without Congressional approval, teeing up a test for Hawley with MAGA and its base. 

The vote comes after Trump announced Jan. 3 that the U.S. military carried out a successful operation in Venezuela, capturing dictatorial president Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The couple is now being held in a New York City jail on sweeping narco-terrorism conspiracy and drug trafficking charges. 

The operation set off condemnation among Democrats who took issue with Trump ordering the mission and strike on Venezuela without prior congressional approval. 

Days later, on Jan. 8, the Senate advanced a bipartisan war powers resolution by a 52–47 vote that would require the president to seek congressional authorization before engaging U.S. armed forces in ‘hostilities within or against Venezuela.’ The procedural vote set up a full Senate vote slated for Wednesday. 

Hawley joined Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Todd Young, R-Ind., in voting with Democrats to require Trump obtain congressional approval prior to military action in Venezuela, sparking condemnation and surprise from the MAGA base on social media earlier in January. 

‘The Republicans who sided with Democrats today on the War Powers resolution are STUPID & WEAK,’ former campaign aide Alex Bruesewitz posted to X following the procedural vote. ‘It came as no surprise to see Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, or Todd Young vote against President Trump, they’ve all shown clear signs of Trump Derangement Syndrome in the past.’

Bruesewitz added that he was ‘surprised and disappointed’ by Hawley for aligning ‘himself with the anti-Trump faction and Democrats, particularly since he represents Missouri, one of the most staunchly pro-Trump states in the nation.’

‘Shameful,’ he added. 

Hawley previously defended his procedural vote by framing it as a constitutional issue rather than a rebuke of the administration. 

‘My read of the Constitution is that if the President feels the need to put boots on the ground there in the future, Congress would need to vote on it,’ Hawley posted to X explaining the vote. 

Fox News Digital spoke to a longtime Republican campaign operative working on midterm races, who said Hawley has broken with the administration over a handful of issues, and compared him to former Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who frequently take shots at the president and his policies and draw media attention.  

‘It seems like every other month he does something that’s opposed to the president and the party more broadly,’ the source said. 

Trump needs two of the five Republicans to switch their positions ahead of Wednesday’s vote. The president put the five senators on notice following the procedural vote, warning on social media that they ‘should never be elected to office again.’

‘This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief,’ he wrote earlier in January. ‘In any event, and despite their ‘stupidity,’ the War Powers Act is Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution, as all Presidents, and their Departments of Justice, have determined before me.’

MAGA allies echoed Trump’s Truth Social message in their own posts, describing Hawley as a ‘RINO’ whose political career is allegedly teetering over the vote. 

‘President Trump ERUPTS on the Republican senators who just voted to approve the War Powers resolution that would rein in his Venezuela operations, says NEVER ELECT THEM AGAIN,’ Eric Daughtery posted to X Jan. 8. 

‘Remember this in November. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again! We are sick of compromised GOP dirtbags going against our President,’ another MAGA-aligned social media account, Farm Girl Carrie, posted. 

Hawley told Fox News Tuesday, when asked how he plans to vote, that he’s spoken with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and DOJ officials about his top concern of having American troops on the ground. 

He said they ‘assured me there are no ground troops in Venezuela’ and that there ‘are not going to be ground troops in Venezuela.’ 

‘My big concern has been ground troops in Venezuela and, making sure that if there’s going to be ground troops in Venezuela, (which) I would hope we would not do, that Congress authorizes that. But I will tell you, I’ve talked to the president. I talked to the secretary of state. I talked to the Department of Justice here in the last few days and have had tremendous conversations in the Secretary of State, who I just talked to recently, assured me there are no ground troops in Venezuela. There are not going to be ground troops in Venezuela,’ he said. ‘The administration will notify Congress, will seek congressional approval where necessary.’ 

Hawley has drawn Trump’s ire before, including during a fight over Hawley’s stock-trading ban proposal in July. Trump, who previously said he liked the idea ‘conceptually,’ accused Hawley of siding with Democrats to block a GOP-backed effort tied to reviewing Nancy Pelosi’s stock trading.

‘Why would one ‘Republican,’ Senator Josh Hawley from the Great State of Missouri, join with all of the Democrats to block a Review, sponsored by Senator Rick Scott, and with the support of almost all other Republicans, of Nancy Pelosi’s Stock Trading over the last 25 years. The information was inappropriately released just minutes before the Vote — Very much like SABOTAGE!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Hawley has also broken with the administration on domestic policy, repeatedly criticizing Medicaid reforms included in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ back in 2025, even as he ultimately voted in favor of the sweeping package when it came to the Senate floor.

The Republican campaign operative said it is unclear why Hawley has broken with the administration on certain policies, speculating he might have 2028 aspirations.

‘The polling I’ve seen shows that Republicans are in favor of the president’s actions in Venezuela,’ the sourced added. ‘He would be out of step with our voters. I don’t think it’d bode well for him. I think this was one of the most unifying moments on the right, when the president successfully arrested Maduro and took him out the country. Him siding with the Democrats is bizarre.’ 

‘How has that worked out for Rand Paul or Massie,’ the operative said, referring to Kentucky lawmakers’ ongoing policy spats with the president and administration. 

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee pressed the Syrian government to hold perpetrators accountable amid accusations of grave human rights violations within Syria’s army during the seizure of two Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo. Some reports claim jihadist-aligned members of the army were responsible for the abuses. 

Jim Risch, R-Idaho., wrote on Tuesday on X that ‘I am gravely concerned about the conduct of armed forces in Aleppo, Syria, over the past week and urge the government to hold accountable those who committed these egregious acts. After years of war, the role of Syria’s new government and armed forces is to safeguard the inherent rights of its citizens, not to infringe upon them.’

Risch responded to an X Post from the Syrian Network condemning the desecration of a woman’s body in Aleppo, where it was thrown from a high floor by a member of the Syrian Army.

On Tuesday, Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, appealed ‘to all parties to exercise maximum restraint’ in the Aleppo area. 

After days of intense clashes, Syrian army forces controlled by the former U.S. designated terrorist Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was previously a member of the terrorist movements al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, seized two neighborhoods (Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiyeh) on Sunday in the city of Aleppo, where members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF were based.

The SDF played a critical role in aiding U.S. forces to defeat the Islamic State in Syria.

Mazloum Abdi, the leader of the SDF, wrote on X that an agreement via international mediation had cemented the evacuation of Syrian Kurds from the two districts in Aleppo.

Abdi wrote that, ‘With mediation by international parties to halt the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo, we have reached an understanding that leads to a ceasefire and ensures the evacuation of the martyrs, wounded, stranded civilians and fighters from the Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood neighborhoods [in northern Aleppo] to North and East Syria [Rojava],’ according to the Kurdish news organization Rudaw. 

The U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, who also serves as the Special Envoy for Syria, wrote on X on Saturday after the Aleppo ceasefire agreement was apparently reached, that he met with President ‘al-Sharaa, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, and members of their team in Damascus to discuss recent developments in Aleppo and the broader path forward for Syria’s historic transition.’

He added, ‘The Syrian government has reaffirmed its commitment to the March 2025 integration agreement with the SDF, which provides a framework for incorporating SDF forces into national institutions in a manner that preserves Kurdish rights and strengthens Syria’s unity and sovereignty.’

Wladimir van Wilgenburg, a Kurdish studies expert, told Fox News Digital prior to the Syrian army ousting SDF from Aleppo districts that, ‘Kurds suspect that Turkey is pushing Damascus to push out Kurdish forces from Aleppo to give a major blow to the SDF, so that they will make more concessions to Damascus and make the Kurdish negotiation position weaker. 

‘Ankara wants the SDF to integrate into the Syrian army on an individual basis, not as separate divisions,’ van Wilgenburg said. He added, ‘Moreover, the SDF wants a decentralized system, while Damascus wants a centralized system. The Kurds have decided to make a stand in Aleppo. The current situation could spark a widespread conflict that could undermine Trump’s policy of creating sustainable peace in the Middle East.’

The Aleppo health directorate said at least 24 civilians were killed and more than 120 people were injured during five days of clashes.

The government of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan views the Syrian Kurds as a threat to Turkey because many Kurdish organizations across the region seek an independent state that would include a part of Turkey, where there is a large Kurdish population. Erdogan has over the years launched devastating attacks on the Kurds in northern Syrian.

Retired four-star Army general Jack Keane previously told Fox News’ Mark Levin on ‘Life, Liberty & Levin’ that President Trump during his first term was able to stop Erdogan’s attacks on the Syrian Kurds. 

The General Command of the SDF issued a statement last week, stating ‘We warn that the continuation of this aggression against civilians will lead to serious repercussions that will not be limited to Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh or to the city of Aleppo alone, but will risk plunging all of Syria back into an open battlefield. Full responsibility for this will rest with those who persist in choosing the use of force against civilians.’

Al-Sharaa‘s rule over the past year has seen radical Islamist forces aligned with his army engage in massacres of a range of Syrian minority groups, from Alawites to the Druze. Radical Islamists have also murdered Syrian Christians.

Sinam Mohamad, the representative of the Syrian Democratic Council to the U.S., told Fox News Digital that a ‘decentralized system will save Syria from any or conflict in the future.’ She said ‘We regret foreign influence’ in Syria, noting that ‘Turkey still has influence on Damascus.’ She said that Turkey seeks to ‘provoke’ in Syria, citing the recent attacks in Aleppo.

Mohammad said the Syrian Kurds have a ‘negotiating committee to discuss the autonomous government in northeastern Syria. We also have women units in the SDF who have been fighting against ISIS.’ She asked what is the ‘future of women in the army’ in Syria?  ‘Damascus does not want women units in the army. In Israel, they have women in the army.’

She said this part of the negotiations with al-Sharaa’s government with respect to the March 2025 agreement reached between the SDF and the Syrian regime.

Van Wilgenburg said, ‘The clashes began after the latest negotiations between the Kurds and Damascus over the implementation of the March 10 agreement did not produce any results. Damascus earlier verbally agreed on three SDF divisions, but there were remaining discussions and different view points over command and control. The last meeting took place on Jan. 4 in Damascus.’

According to the SDF, ‘the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh have been under complete siege by factions of the Damascus government for more than six months. These neighborhoods do not, under any circumstances, constitute a military threat, nor can they serve as a launching point for any attack on the city of Aleppo.’

The statement added that, ‘The allegations promoted by bloodthirsty circles within Damascus-affiliated factions, claiming the existence of intent or military movement by our forces from these neighborhoods, are false and fabricated. They are used as a pretext to justify the siege, shelling and massacres committed against civilians.’

Fox News Digital reached out numerous times to the spokesperson for Turkey’s embassy in Washington D.C. as well as the U.S. State Department.