Pompeo: Maduro Was Ready to Give up and Leave Venezuela, but Russia Talked Him out of It

EXCERPT:

POMPEO: "Well, I’m not going to get into specifics, but we’ve made very clear we would consider that a major escalation, Wolf. We’ve watched throughout the day, it’s been a long time since anyone has seen Maduro. He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it, and the Russians indicated that he should stay. We think the situation remains incredibly fluid. We know that there were senior leaders inside the Maduro government that were prepared to leave. They told us as much over the past few weeks, and we’re convinced that the Venezuelan people are going to get their democracy back."