Did former Venezuelan intelligence chief Hugo Carvajal reveal a list of 60 or more U.S. senators who took cartel bribes to sabotage President Trump's anti-narco operations? No, that's not true: There is no evidence of such a list from Carvajal. A Dec. 2, 2025, letter to President Donald Trump from Carvajal, obtained from his lawyer by the Dallas Express, mentions "U.S. diplomats and CIA officers were paid to assist Chávez and Maduro in remaining in power" but does not name names.
One example of the claim appeared in a post (archived here) by Timothy Wilcox on Facebook on Nov. 10, 2026. It opened:
VENEZUELA LIST EXPLODES AS MADURO LINKS 60 US SENATORS TO MULTI MILLION BRIBE ALLEGATIONSBy Jonathan GregoryWashington, DC - November 10, 2026A political firestorm has exploded as the Venezuela List links 60 US Senators to multi million bribes from Maduro's narco terror regime. Hugo El Pollo Carvajal, the former Venezuelan intelligence chief now in US prison after pleading guilty to narco terrorism, is revealing Maduro's full war on America. He describes the use of drugs, gangs like Tren de Aragua, and terrorist alliances with Hezbollah, FARC, ELN and Cuban spies to flood American cities with chaos. He confirms Smartmatic was built for election fraud by Venezuelan spies.The Venezuela List accuses these Senators of taking cartel bribes to sabotage President Trump's anti narco operations and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's strategies. The full list of accused Senators includes prominent names like Chuck Schumer of New York, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Adam Schiff of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Mark Warner of Virginia, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Patty Murray of Washington and dozens more. These allegations place the entire Uniparty under immediate scrutiny.Trump and Hegseth have launched a fierce counteroffensive destroying Venezuelan fentanyl routes, seizing alleged ill gotten assets, and launching cyber strikes against Smartmatic's network. The documents and the prison statements now stand as the active record. Officials named on the list must answer the claims. The American Republic is fighting back and the records will decide it.
This caption is a copy/paste of a Nov. 10, 2026 post (archived here) by Jonathan Gregory. Gregory's Facebook profile @TrumpNews.baby is categorized as "Comedian" (archived here). The post caption names fifteen senators and says there are "dozens more". Included are four photos (pictured below). Each photo is captioned individually by Gregory:
- THE SENATORS: Group of US Senators Representing the 60 Named on the Venezuela List Linked to Maduro Bribe Allegations!
- THE DICTATOR: Nicolas Maduro Representing the Venezuelan Leader Linked to the Multi Million Bribe Allegations Against 60 US Senators!
- THE SOURCE: Hugo Carvajal the Former Venezuelan Intelligence Chief Representing the Man Revealing Maduro's Operations and Smartmatic Election Fraud Claims!
- THE SENATE: US Senate Chamber Representing the 60 Senators Named on the Venezuela List Including Schumer, McConnell, Schiff, and Warren!
(Image source: post by TrumpNews.baby on Facebook.)
The first photo at the top dates to December 8, 2022. It shows twelve Democratic senators following their leadership elections, a video of this 2022 photo op was shared by C-SPAN (archived here). There is a photo of Nicolás Maduro and a photo of Hugo Carvajal Barrios. The last photo shows "A class photo of the 111th United States Senate" in the public domain on Wikimedia (archived here). The photo dates from 2010, during Obama's first term as president.
The letter to Donald Trump from Hugo Carvajal
On Dec. 3, 2025, the Dallas Express published an article (archived here) with the headline "EXCLUSIVE: Former Maduro Spy Chief's Letter To Trump Seeks To Expose Narco-Terrorist War Against U.S." It explained how they got the letter:
The letter, shared exclusively with DX by Carvajal's attorney, Robert Feitel -- a former senior Justice Department prosecutor -- marks the first time the retired Major General has put these warnings on the record since pleading guilty earlier this year [in 2025] in a U.S. federal narco-terrorism case.
The article presents Carvajal's Dec. 2, 2025, letter in two forms: the text formatted within the article itself, and three .jpg images of the letter's three pages, each bearing a Dallas Express watermark. The letter is organized around four numbered topics, Narco-Terrorism, Tren de Aragua, Counterintelligence and Espionage Against the United States, and Smartmatic and Your Elections.
The concluding paragraph of the section on counterintelligence and espionage reads:
U.S. diplomats and CIA officers were paid to assist Chávez and Maduro in remaining in power. These Americans acted as spies for Cuba and Venezuela, and some remain active to this day.
There are no names given. There is no suggestion that the "Americans who acted as spies" were senators or members of the House of Representatives. There is no number of people nor amount of money cited. There is no list in Carvajal's letter.
Mention of this letter appears in reporting from other outlets, some of which refer to the Dallas Express reporting, such as a Jan. 6, 2026, article in USA Today (archived here). A Feb. 5, 2026, article in CNN Brasil (archived here) reports CNN also obtained a copy of the letter but says (translated automatically from Portuguese to English by Google):
Carvajal's lawyer declined to comment on the contents of the letter or his client's case. The Department of Justice did not respond to CNN 's request for comment.
The appearance of "The Venezuela List" on social media and who is Joshua Hall?
The X profile of Joshua Hall, @JoshHall2024 (archived here), features the tagline, "Patriot. Freed political prisoner". A Dec. 19, 2022, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press release (archived here) from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, announced Hall's 20-month prison sentence and described two separate crimes. On Aug. 29, 2022, Hall made threats to kill a U.S. congressman in a series of telephone calls. The DOJ press release does not name the congressman, but Hall does, in an Oct. 9, 2025, X post (archived here) made days after he was released from prison -- it was Congressman Eric Swalwell. In that post Hall also announced his intention to get on the ballot to run for Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District -- Ballotpedia records that Hall did not appear on the ballot (archived here) in the Republican primary. The DOJ press release also outlined the fraud offense where Hall defrauded hundreds of victims by setting up a fake fundraising organization and impersonated members of the Trump family on social media. The DOJ press release did not name "the Fictitious Political Organization" but a June 8, 2021, article in Forbes (archived here) went into more detail about Hall's "Gay Voices for Trump" Scam.
On Dec. 5, 2025, a post (archived here) by @JoshHall2024 on X introduced the idea that a whistleblower had a massive list of politicians receiving millions of dollars in kickbacks. The post (embedded below) ended with the call: "RELEASE THE VENEZUELA LIST NOW!"
🚨🚨 BREAKING: A whistleblower has come forward to reveal that there is a MASSIVE LIST of both Democrat and Republican politicians who are receiving MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN KICKBACKS from the Maduro regime and Venezuelan narcoterrorists in exchange for aiding and abetting these drug trafficking organizations to smuggle drugs in to The United States and try and stop President Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's efforts to carry out their war against these terrorists. These traitors have the blood of hundreds of thousands of Americans that are dying from drug overdoses every year as a result of the evil actions of these Venezuelan narcoterrorists on their hands. A FEDERAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION needs to be opened up immediately and every single one of these politicians needs to be thrown in prison for aiding and abetting. This is what the "war crimes" hysteria is really about... It's all a distraction from this massive Deep State criminal operation against the American people. Maduro is literally paying a large chunk of Washington off for this. RELEASE THE VENEZUELA LIST NOW!
-- Joshua Hall (@JoshHall2024) December 5, 2025
Later that day, @JoshHall2024 made another post (archived here), this one with an image of Rand Paul, claiming the senator was one of the "top politicians on the Venezuela List" (embedded below). This post cites only an unnamed source and does not provide any source or evidence to back this claim.
🚨🚨 BREAKING: Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is one of the top politicians on the VENEZUELA LIST that has been taking MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN KICKBACKS from the Maduro regime and narcoterrorists in the Latin American country, according to a HIGH-RANKING VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT SOURCE. He has been AIDING AND ABETTING these violent criminals in their trafficking of deadly drugs in to The United States that are killing approximately 120,000 Americans every year. In exchange for the accepted bribes, he is attempting to sabotage President Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in their ongoing war against Maduro and these ruthless drug trafficking criminal organizations. That is what this sudden "war crimes" outcry is really about... It is a COVER-UP and an attempt to deflect from the criminal enterprise that Rand Paul and a laundry list of others within our government are engaged in with the Venezuelan government. They are actively providing aid and comfort to the enemy during a time of war and allowing their own fellow citizens to die in exchange for personal enrichment. There was a time in America when we used to call that TREASON and punish it accordingly... Now it's just another day in Washington DC. Pam Bondi: Stop playing a TV lawyer on Fox News and actually do your job and PROSECUTE these enemies from within. NOW!
-- Joshua Hall (@JoshHall2024) December 5, 2025
On Dec. 6, 2025, Hall used the name of Hugo Carvajal as a source when he named "Democrat Senator Adam Schiff and Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell, both of California" in another X post (archived here and embedded below) using their official portraits to illustrate the post which goes into detail about how the men were paid off. Again the claims are made with no evidence.
🚨🚨 BREAKING: Venezuela's former intelligence leader Hugo Carvajal has CONFIRMED that Democrat Senator Adam Schiff and Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell, both of California, are two of the top names on the VENEZUELA LIST of US politicians that are receiving MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN KICKBACKS AND LAVISH GIFTS from the Maduro regime and Venezuelan drug trafficking organizations in exchange for using their official power as a means of undermining the Trump administration's ongoing war against these narcoterrorists. They literally have the blood of hundreds of thousands of Americans who are dying from drug overdoses every year as a result of the deadly drugs that these criminal organizations are trafficking into our country on their hands. This is textbook TREASON and AIDING AND ABETTING THE ENEMY during a time of war while assisting in the deaths of our own American citizens. All for personal wealth and financial gain. Schiff has reportedly had a multi-million dollar vacation home purchased for him by the Venezuelan government on the California coast while Swalwell has received luxurious items including gold bars and diamond jewelry in exchange for his treason. The dollar value that these two Benedict Arnolds have racked up is well in to the MILLIONS, according to Carvajal. He is in federal prison now in the US and EXPOSING EVERYTHING. This isn't about a war crime... This is a distraction and a "cover your ass" operation by the Deep State thugs who have been taking bribes from the enemy at our country's expense. Pam Blondi: Get off of Fox News and start issuing indictments or step aside for an Attorney General who will... LOCK THEM ALL UP!
-- Joshua Hall (@JoshHall2024) December 6, 2025
On Dec. 9, 2025, @JoshHall2024 posted a list of 60 senators (archived here) with their name, party, and state (pictured below). Each entry has a green checkmark emoji. The post reads:
🚨🚨 BREAKING: Venezuela's former Chief of National Intelligence Hugo Carvajal has OFFICIALLY RELEASED every U.S. Senator who is on THE VENEZUELA LIST of politicians who have been receiving MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN KICKBACKS from the Maduro regime and Venezuelan drug trafficking organizations that make up his government in exchange for using their government positions and influence to undermine President Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's ongoing war with these narcoterrorists. Every one of these Senators is guilty of providing aid and comfort to THE ENEMY during a time of war and has the blood of their fellow American citizens (HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of whom die of drug overdoses every year at the hands of these criminal drug trafficking organizations that bring deadly drugs into our country) on their hands. May each and every one of them be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and may their names forever live in shame for their treason. Below is EVERY U.S. SENATOR ON THE VENEZUELA LIST: 👇🏻👇🏻
(Image source: post by @JoshHall2024 on X.)
On Dec. 11, 2025, @JoshHall2024 made two consecutive posts on X here and here (archived here and here) which contain the "full list of US House members on the Venezuela list". This list includes the names, party affiliations and state, and each entry on the list begins with a green checkmark emoji. Together, the two posts list 236 House members (pictured below). 
(Image source: posts by @JoshHall2024 on X.)
Lead Stories found another graphic circulating on social media which shows an image of Nicolás Maduro alongside "The Venezuela List" with the green checkmarks. This list is not a copy or portion of the lists published by Hall. It appears to be a flawed AI-generated imitation styled after Hall's lists but pared down to fit the dimensions of the social media graphic. The example (pictured below) appears in a July 15, 2026, article (archived here). The headline says there are 60 senators, but the graphic only has 34 entries, and some of them are duplicates. Toward the end of the list Ron Wyden appeared three times and Jeff Merkley appeared twice. There are several errors in which state is represented, for example Chris Murphy represents Connecticut not Delaware. This website named American Media Group (AMG-news.com) is based in Romania. It is rated by Media Bias/Fact Check, an independent media-rating organization, as 'Conspiracy-Pseudoscience' (archived here).
(Image source: AMG-news.com.)
The @JoshHall2024 posts from Dec. 9 and 11 directly attribute these lists to Hugo Carvajal, but there is no record of Carvajal releasing either list. Searches for the phrase "Hugo Carvajal list of U.S. politicians" on Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) did not find any news articles where the source of these lists was verified from established news outlets.
Additional Fact Checks
These news searches did return several fact checks on the topic -- from Snopes (archived here) and Factually (archived here).
