"White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked it a report that the 'US demanded Venezuela cut ties with China, Russia, Iran, Cuba' was true - and only said the source was a 'classified briefing' - during her presser in DC on Wednesday. "Those alleged demands were made in a classified briefing by Secretary Rubio, and I know that there's a lot of leaks coming out of these classified briefings, so I'm not going to confirm or deny or get into what the Secretary has said in classified settings to members of Congress. But I think that the administration has made it quite clear to the interim authorities in Venezuela that this is the Western Hemisphere, and American dominance is going to continue under this President," she said. The US launched strikes on Venezuela at the weekend, grabbing president Nicolas Maduro. Donald Trump vowed to 'run' the country and send in the oil companies, warning the interim government they could suffer a fate 'worse than Maduro' if they didn't comply. It saw widespread condemnation across BRICS, the Global South and beyond."