U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in front of a portrait of former president Theodore Roosevelt during an event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, US on October 9, 2019. (REUTERS File Photo)
WASHINGTON, June 22 (Reuters): U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday walked back comments that he would consider meeting Nicolas Maduro, saying he would only do so to discuss the Venezuelan president's departure from office.
In an interview published on Sunday, Trump said he would consider meeting Maduro and played down his earlier decision to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader.
The Republican president changed tack in a Twitter post on Monday. "My Admin has always stood on the side of FREEDOM and LIBERTY and against the oppressive Maduro regime! I would only meet with Maduro to discuss one thing: a peaceful exit from power!" Trump said.
However, Trump told news site Axios on Friday that he was open to a meeting, a move that would upend his "maximum pressure" campaign aimed at ousting Maduro, a socialist who has presided over a deep economic crisis in the South American nation.
"I would maybe think about that. ... Maduro would like to meet. And I’m never opposed to meetings," Trump said. "But at this moment, I’ve turned them down."
Trump had expressed an openness in 2018 to meeting Maduro, who had also made overtures for talks, but nothing materialized and the United States instead ratcheted up the pressure.
The comments to Axios were possibly the clearest sign yet of what some U.S. officials have privately said was growing frustration over his administration’s failure to unseat Maduro through sanctions and diplomacy.
