flooding

A White House social media post misleadingly links deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro with the US fentanyl crisis.

The X post includes a video highlighting parents who lost children to fentanyl overdoses thanking President Donald Trump for capturing Maduro.

“Angel Families thank President Trump for saving lives & capturing Maduro – the kingpin flooding America with deadly fentanyl,” the White House’s January 5 X post said. “Justice is being served.”

US troops abducted Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their Caracas home in the early hours of January 3. The two pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges on January 5 in New York federal court.

The White House post isn’t the first time the Trump administration has blamed Maduro for trafficking fentanyl to the US. Trump has cited the potent synthetic opioid that is responsible for most US drug overdose deaths to justify pressure on Venezuela in the months before Maduro’s capture.

But neither Venezuela nor Maduro plays a role in smuggling fentanyl to the US. The majority of US fentanyl comes from Mexico and is made with chemicals from China, according to US government reports and drug policy experts.

The White House did not respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment.

Vice President JD Vance addressed fentanyl in a January 4 X post, the day before the White House’s post, saying cocaine is “the main drug trafficked out of Venezuela,” and, “Yes, a lot of fentanyl is coming out of Mexico. That continues to be a focus of our policy in Mexico and is a reason why President Trump shut the border on day one.”

Drug experts previously told PolitiFact that Venezuela acts as a transit country for some cocaine trafficking in part because its neighbouring country, Colombia, is the world’s main cocaine producer. However, most of the cocaine that enters the US doesn’t go through Venezuela.

Government reports say fentanyl does not come from Venezuela

The Drug Enforcement Agency’s annual National Drug Threat Assessment reports for years have pointed to Mexico and China as the countries responsible for illicit fentanyl in the US. None of the agency’s reports from 2017 to 2025 list Venezuela as a fentanyl producer or trafficker.

Most illicit fentanyl entered the US via the southern border at official ports of entry, and 83.5 percent of the smugglers in fiscal year 2024 were US citizens.

“There is no evidence of fentanyl or cocaine laced with fentanyl coming from Venezuela or anywhere else in South America,” David Smilde, a Tulane University sociologist who studies violence in Venezuela, told PolitiFact in September.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report also points to Mexico as the country of origin for the most fentanyl seized in the US.

US fentanyl overdose deaths recently have dropped. From May 2024 to April 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 43,000 synthetic opioid deaths, most of which were from fentanyl, down from nearly 70,000 in the previous year.

“The United States has been suffering an enormous overdose crisis driven by opioids and fentanyl in particular in recent years,” John Walsh, director for drug policy at the Washington Office on Latin America, a group advocating for human rights in the Americas, previously told PolitiFact. “I would say it has zero to do with anything in South America or the Caribbean.”

The Justice Department first indicted Maduro in 2020 for alleged drug-related actions dating to 1999. A newly unsealed and updated indictment filed in the Southern District of New York charges Maduro and two co-defendants with narcoterrorism conspiracy and him, Flores and the four other co-defendants with cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machineguns.

The indictment calls Maduro an illegitimate leader who transported cocaine under Venezuelan law enforcement protection, enriching his family and cementing power.

The 25-page document does not mention fentanyl or fentanyl trafficking.

Our ruling

The Trump White House described Maduro as “flooding America with deadly fentanyl”.

Drug experts and official government and international reports point to Mexico and China as the countries primarily involved in producing and trafficking the illicit fentanyl that reaches the US. The majority of fentanyl in the US comes from Mexico, is made with chemicals from China, and is smuggled by US citizens via official ports of entry at the southern border.

The US Justice Department indicted Maduro on charges related to cocaine. The indictment does not mention fentanyl.

We rate the statement False.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (R) talks with President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 13, 2020. On Monday, Polis called on Trump to reverse his recent decision to deny the state disaster relief for recent flooding and fire damage. File Pool Photo by Doug Mills/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 22 (UPI) — Colorado lawmakers have called on President Donald Trump to reverse a recent decision denying state disaster aid requests in the wake of “life-threatening flooding and historic wildfires.”

In a statement Sunday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced Trump had rejected the state’s requests for help and accused the president of playing “political games.” He said the state would be appealing the decision.

“Coloradans impacted by the Elk and Lee fires and the flooding in Southwestern Colorado deserve better than the political games President Trump is playing,” Polis said.

“I call on the president’s better angels, and urge him to reconsider these requests. This is about the Coloradans who need this support, and we won’t stop fighting for them to get what they deserve,” the Democratic governor added.

Polis declared a disaster emergency on Aug. 3, for the Elk Fire and added the Lee Fire three days later. He filed an executive order by the end of August as the state revealed initial damage estimates from the fires and mudslides totaled more than $27 million.

In October, Polis declared a disaster emergency to unlock $6 million in state funding for flood response and recovery in Western Colorado.

Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet said, “Trump’s decision to deny Colorado’s request for critical federal assistance is unacceptable.”

“Communities in Western Colorado are in serious need of help after the life-threatening flooding and historic wildfires earlier this year,” Bennet added. “Trump continues to use Coloradans for political games; it is malicious and obscene.”

While a president can tap additional federal assistance with a major disaster under the Stafford Act, the Trump administration has recently denied some states’ requests for aid as it works to downsize the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The White House said Monday, “there is no politicization to the president’s decisions on disaster relief.” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson explained Trump’s decision, adding that the administration sent two firefighting planes to Colorado to help fight the fires.

“The president responds to each request for federal assistance under the Stafford Act with great care and consideration,” Jackson said, “ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”

DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis accused President Trump of playing “political games” Sunday after the federal government denied disaster declaration requests after wildfires and flooding in the state earlier this year.

Polis’ office said he received two denial letters from the Federal Emergency Management Agency late Saturday. The letters are in response to requests for major disaster declarations following wildfires and mudslides in August and what Polis had described as “historic flooding” across southwestern Colorado in October.

Polis and Colorado’s U.S. senators, fellow Democrats Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, decried the denials. Polis said the state would appeal.

“Coloradans impacted by the Elk and Lee fires and the flooding in Southwestern Colorado deserve better than the political games President Trump is playing,” he said in a statement.

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said Trump responds to each request for federal disaster assistance “with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute — their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”

Jackson said there is “no politicization” in Trump’s decisions on disaster aid.

The Trump administration has also yet to act on California’s request for $33.9 million in long-term disaster assistance nearly a year after the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles. Gov. Gavin Newsom said FEMA officials refused his request for a meeting when he visited Washington a few weeks ago.

Trump has raised the idea of “phasing out” FEMA, saying he wants states to take more responsibility. States already take the lead in disasters, but federal assistance comes into play when the needs exceed what they can manage on their own.

Dec. 20 (UPI) — A flood watch is in effect in the greater Portland area and large portions of western Oregon and southwestern Washington as rainy conditions continue.

The National Weather Service issued the flood watch on Saturday morning, which is in effect until 4 p.m. PST and follows a week of heavy rainfall, Oregon Live reported.

Local flooding is likeliest in urban areas and in locations with relatively little water drainage, and the day’s forecast calls for an 80% chance of rainfall during the morning hours.

The Sandy and Clackamas rivers are especially vulnerable to flooding, and at least one person has died as many roads in western Oregon became covered by landslides and other weather-related damage, according to OPB.

“The Clackamas River in the last 24 hours, we’ve been seeing 3 to 4 inches [of rain] and in some cases even higher amounts southeast of Estacada,” NWS meteorologist Sebastian Westerink told OPB on Friday.

“Those amounts are certainly contributing to the rapid rise of the river,” he added.

Despite the continued rainy weather, most local evacuation orders were lifted on Friday in areas along and near the Clackamas River, KATU reported.

The river set a new record when it crested at 26.25 feet during the early morning hours on Friday. The prior record was 25.52 feet in 1972.

The rainy weather likely will continue through Sunday as a cool and moist airmass covers much of the region.

Hundreds of local residents have evacuated the area, and some flood waters have started to recede but many bodies of water will remain higher than normal into Sunday, NWS forecasters said.

Some, though, took advantage of rare whitewater kayaking opportunities afforded by the week’s weather.

Many traveled to Gladstone’s High Rocks Park, where local waters were flowing at a very high rate on Friday and could continue doing so through the weekend.