Secretary of State Marco Rubio is having a hard time reining in a subordinate accused of playing fast and loose with U.S. foreign policy.
Seven senior officials told Axios they suspect Chris Landau, the son of a former ambassador to Venezuela and Rubio’s No. 2 at the State Department, has been undermining the Trump administration’s policy on the South American country.
“There’s a widespread belief that Landau went rogue,” one person said. “And the evidence supports that belief.” Another person added that “Marco isn’t happy” with his deputy over the furor.
Things apparently kicked off after the Venezuelan capital of Caracas was rocked by two massive earthquakes in quick succession that killed at least 3,500 people and injured thousands of others on June 24. María Corina Machado—the country’s opposition leader in exile, who lives in the U.S. and is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump—was eager to return to her home country to help out in the aftermath of the disaster. The Trump administration twice blocked those plans.
Axios reported Wednesday that the interference underscores just how frayed the relationship between the White House and Machado’s team has now become. Trump made little secret of his bitter disappointment after last year’s Nobel Peace Prize went to her instead of him, despite her decision to gift him her Nobel medal.
The president refused to install Machado as interim leader after sending U.S. forces into Caracas to capture and abduct President Nicolás Maduro in January. His administration subsequently put Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s vice president, in the top job and still opposes Machado’s return.
Landau is close to Machado’s team. One official told Axios that “he’s eerily incapable of saying anything positive” about the interim government in Venezuela or anything “negative about Machado.” She placed a call to Landau, among other officials in the Trump administration, one day after the earthquakes struck, requesting assistance with travel back to her home country. “She forum shopped,” as one person described it. “Landau was happy to help.”
The deputy secretary of state then “appeared to advocate” for her return in an exchange with the Netherlands’ ambassador to the U.S., who agreed to facilitate Machado’s travel to Caracas through the Dutch-owned island of Curaçao. The confusion only ended after the Dutch ambassador spoke with another department official, who told her the administration had not cleared Machado, who does not hold a valid Venezuelan passport, to go home—resulting in her plane being turned around mid-flight on June 25.
“While in the air, Machado was shocked to learn of the reversal, called U.S. officials, and eventually spoke to Rubio, who reiterated U.S. policy to her,” Axios writes. That still wasn’t the end of it. Days later, Landau also “then miscommunicated the same sentiment a second time to a second foreign official,” the outlet adds. He reportedly told Panama’s foreign minister on June 26 that the U.S. would be arranging Machado’s return.
The opposition leader had already reached Panama by June 28, where she was then prevented from boarding another flight to Caracas after officials in both D.C. and Caracas intervened. She’s understood to have since remained in Panama and may now be planning to enter Colombia before finally crossing that country’s border into Venezuela.
Landau has denied misrepresenting U.S. policy on Venezuela to the people he spoke with. The State Department told Axios in a statement that it remains “in lockstep behind President Trump and Secretary Rubio in advancing the president’s foreign policy agenda.” The Daily Beast has contacted the State Department, the Dutch and Panamanian embassies in D.C., and Machado for further comment.
