In Washington, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said the US would “use every tool” to get the two captured Americans back, and raised eyebrows by saying there was no “direct” US government involvement in the strange raid.
“If we had been involved, it would have gone differently,” Pompeo told reporters shortly before Denman was shown on Venezuelan state television. “As for who bankrolled it, we’re not prepared to share any more information about what we know took place. We’ll unpack that at an appropriate time. We’ll share that information that makes good sense.”
Asked about what action the administration would take, Pompeo said: “We will start the process of trying to figure a way – if, in fact, these are Americans that are there – that we can figure a path forward. We want to get every American back. If the Maduro regime decides to hold them, we’ll use every tool that we have available to try and get them back. It’s our responsibility to do so.”
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