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| - In 2020, the first administration of Donald Trump placed a $15 million bounty on Maduro. The Department of Treasury then increased it to $25 million days before the end of Biden's term in January 2025.
As Democrats in the U.S. criticized the administration of President Donald Trump for attacking Venezuela and capturing the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife on Jan. 3, 2026, a rumor circulated that the administration of former Democratic President Joe Biden had placed a $25 million bounty on Maduro.
For example, former New York City Eric Adams shared the claim, calling those who criticized Maduro's removal from power "cynical and irresponsible" (archived):
Adams' post had amassed 2.2 million views and 49,000 likes as of this writing. He wrote it to respond to a post by former Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who served under Biden, in which she said "Trump's actions in Venezuela do not make the U.S. safer, stronger, or more affordable" (archived):
Several more people on X and Facebook amplified the claim Adams made that the Biden-Harris administration placed a $25 million bounty on Maduro, including Sen. Katie Boyd Britt, a Republican from Alabama.
The Biden administration did not place a bounty on Maduro, but it increased an existing one. As such, we rated the claim mostly true.
U.S. presidential actions against Maduro
On March 8, 2015, then-President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13692 declaring a national emergency to deal with the threat Venezuela's government represented to the U.S. Maduro had been president for two years at that point. Obama, targeting the Venezuelan government, imposed sanctions on people involved in anti-democratic actions in the country, actions that violated human rights and freedom of expression, as well as people guilty of public corruption. Obama also banned them from entering the U.S.
In response to Obama's executive order, Maduro asked his country's national assembly to give him the power to rule by decree, and the legislative chamber complied.
Things later escalated between the two countries. On March 26, 2020, the Trump administration announced it was indicting Maduro on charges including narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking.
The same day, the Department of State announced it was offering a $15 million reward for information related to Maduro. Separately, it offered $10 million for any information leading to the capture of four other Venezuelan officials.
In 2024, when Biden was president, Venezuela held presidential elections. While the opposition — using detailed and credible data — was able to show its candidate Edmundo González likely won the contest, González said members of Maduro's entourage forced him to admit defeat in exchange for the freedom to seek asylum in Spain.
On Jan. 10, 2025, in response to this and Maduro's subsequent repression of political opponents, the Department of Treasury under Biden modified Obama's executive order to single out eight Venezuelan government officials for sanctions. In addition, the State Department increased the amount of the $15 million bounty imposed by the previous administration to "$25 million each for information leading to the arrest and/or convictions of Maduro and Maduro's named Minister of Interior, Justice, and Peace Diosdado Cabello." Lastly, it added a reward of $15 million for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.
In August 2025, the departments of State and Justice under Trump announced they were increasing the reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest or conviction to $50 million.
For further reading, Snopes contextualized Trump's assertion that Venezuela had stolen the "oil, land and other assets" of U.S. oil companies, and whether he was correct in saying that the oil belonged to the U.S.
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