TAPPER: Now, today, as we learn in Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s new book, “Regime Change,” a key former foreign leader sought to use Trump’s obsession with the 2020 election to save himself. As tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela heated up in 2025, President Trump sought to use Tucker Carlson, a conservative commentator, as a go- between between himself and then-president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. From the book “Regime Change,” “As bait, Maduro had claimed to Carlson that he could furnish proof U.S. voting machines were tampered with in 2020, a transparently calculated appeal to Trump’s unfounded stolen election grievances. And Maduro had told Carlson he wanted warmer relations with Washington.”

Now, since then, of course, Maduro was captured by U.S. forces, and Maduro currently sits in a New York detention center. Given that he was all ready to make false claims of evidence about Venezuela helping to rig the 2020 election in order to ingratiate himself with Trump, what might Maduro be willing to say now? To get out of jail, perhaps. To no longer have to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

For that matter, what might the U.S.-backed replacement for Maduro, Delcy Rodriguez, what might she be willing to say or do? And what is President Trump willing to do with those possibly pending false claims? Well, the book “Regime Change” also details the Trump White House discussing President Trump’s suspending habeas corpus. That’s the fundamental legal concept which prevents the government from indefinitely detaining people without evidence.

It’s an extreme measure that Trump has openly discussed on several occasions, including when he wanted to bypass courts on immigration enforcement and deportation matters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There’s one way that’s been used by three very highly respected presidents, but we hope we don’t have to go that route. But there is one way that has been used very successfully by three presidents, all highly respected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That was a reference to possibly suspending habeas corpus. In “Regime Change,” we learn how, “deeply alarmed” some White House officials were about these discussions. “Many inside and outside the White House agreed with some calling the push to suspend habeas corpus insane, believing it would roil the country and cripple the Trump presidency. But the president was interested.”

The book also talks about the possibility that the Trump administration was thinking about invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the President to use U.S. troops for domestic law enforcement, something that is generally prohibited. “Regime Change” notes that after the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good at the hands of immigration enforcement agents in Minnesota five months ago, after that, Vice President J.D. Vance, “Got right to the point. He wanted to talk about the situation in Minnesota. In his view, they needed to swiftly invoke the Insurrection Act to crush the unrest. It would be painful in the short term, he said, but in the long term, it was the right thing to do.”

President Trump also expressed how he viewed the act as a tool that can be used to fight against judicial rulings constraining his power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Everybody agrees you’re allowed to use that. And there’s no more court cases. There’s no more anything. We’re trying to do it in a nicer manner, but we can always use the Insurrection Act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, President Trump is currently and constantly trying to push the boundaries of his power with very little, if any, pushback from those surrounding him in the White House or the administration or from Republicans in Congress.

Currently, the postmaster general is threatening to not deliver mail- in ballots to states that don’t turn over their voting rolls. We have a new unqualified acting director of national intelligence who, as housing chair for the federal government, used government documents to pursue Trump’s political opponents. We have seen the seizure of Dominion voting machines in Puerto Rico in 2025 and in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2026.

And now we have these latest data points, Maduro’s false election hacking claims, habeas corpus being possibly suspended, the Insurrection Act being possibly invoked. What might this all be leading up to? Well, we’re going to continue to follow it all.