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Did Trump declare state of emergency today? What to know about POTUS order amid Venezuela crisis
President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to shield Venezuelan oil revenue held by the US government from being seized by private creditors.
President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to shield Venezuelan oil revenue held by the US government from being seized by private creditors. This came in the proclamation titled ‘Safeguarding Venezuelan Oil Revenue for the Good of the American and Venezuelan People.’
“Accordingly, the preservation of the Foreign Government Deposit Funds is of the utmost importance to the United States,” the president said in the proclamation, adding, “I therefore find that the possibility of attachment or the imposition of judicial process against the Foreign Government Deposit Funds constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.”
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Trump invoked national emergency in the Venezuela case, framing the issue as one critical to to US national security and stability in the region.
What to know about Donald Trump's order
Trump in the White House order has linked ‘stability’ to ‘ending the dangerous influx of illegal immigrants and the flood of illicit narcotics" and to countering ’malign actors such as Iran and Hezbollah.'
In the order ‘Foreign Government Deposit Funds’ are Venezuelan government funds which are in designated Treasury accounts which come from the sale of natural resources or diluents. Trump further decreed any ‘attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process’ against those funds is ‘prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void’ unless licensed specifically.
The news of Trump declaring a national emergency was shared widely online, and the situation in Venezuela remains under observation after US forces on the president's orders, captured and flew the Venezuelan head of state, Nicolas Maduro and his wife to the US, where they've been indicted.
Meanwhile, the US embassy in Caracas warned American citizens in Venezuela on January 10 to ‘leave the country immediately’. It cited security concerns and the inability of the US government to provide emergency assistance.
