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State Department Briefing: Venezuela Repatriation Warning and the Trump-Putin Call Toward a Ceasefire

March 19, 2025 · U.S. Department of State · 1:55:01

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Spokesperson Tammy Bruce opened the March 19, 2025 department briefing by reading the position Secretary Rubio had made clear the previous day on Venezuela, according to the Department of State’s recording. Bruce said Venezuela is obligated to accept its repatriated citizens from the United States — not an issue for debate or negotiation, and not meriting any reward — and that unless the Maduro regime accepts a consistent flow of deportation flights, the United States will impose new and more severe sanctions, as she stated the warning. She said the regime must accept back all Venezuelan aliens deported by the United States, especially those she listed as murderers, rapists, criminals and human traffickers, and thanked regional partners helping stop illegal immigration and combat transnational crime, as the statement framed the cooperation.

On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Bruce summarized President Trump’s phone conversation with President Putin the previous day, which she said both sides described as good and productive. She said the two presidents agreed the conflict must end with a lasting peace and that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementing a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, followed by work toward a full ceasefire and permanent peace, as she recounted the agreed sequence.

The briefing then moved into extended questioning across the department’s agenda, in what Bruce noted was her third time walking into the briefing room, according to the recording.

Why it matters

The briefing pairs the administration’s hardest-edged deportation diplomacy — accept the flights or face escalating sanctions — with its first concrete ceasefire sequence for Ukraine, agreed in the Trump-Putin call the day before.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the ceasefire sequence Bruce recounted from the March 18, 2025 Trump-Putin call — beginning with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire and technical negotiations on a Black Sea maritime ceasefire — flagged for the scoreboard editor; no verdict is entered here.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Department of State Press Briefing - March 19, 2025 - 2:00 PM”, 2025-03-19 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-03-19). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.