Did the Biden admin put a bounty on Maduro
Executive summary
Yes — the Biden administration officially increased a U.S. reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to $25 million in January 2025, a move reported by major outlets as part of U.S. pressure on Maduro after a disputed third term; that action built on an earlier $15 million reward from 2020 (Trump) and was characterized by U.S. officials as largely symbolic [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What happened: a concrete increase in the reward, not a secret “bounty” scheme
On Jan. 10, 2025 the Biden administration announced it was offering $25 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, an increase from a $15 million reward set under the Trump administration in 2020; the New York Times and the BBC both reported the $25 million figure and described it as an escalation of U.S. pressure after Maduro’s contested third term [1] [2], while fact-checkers catalogued the timeline showing the reward’s origins in 2020 and the January 2025 increase [4].
2. Legal and rhetorical framing: “reward” versus “bounty” and the symbolic intent
U.S. officials framed the announcement as a reward for information tied to criminal charges and as a message of solidarity with Venezuelan opposition, with National Security Council and State Department spokespeople linking the move to diplomatic pressure rather than an explicit promise of capture operations; major coverage noted such rewards are often symbolic and meant to amplify international efforts and pressure on a foreign leader [1] [3].
3. Continuity from prior administrations and the role of indictments
The $25 million update did not create new underlying criminal charges; the DOJ’s indictments dated back to 2020 and had been kept in place through the Biden term, so the reward represented a higher tip for existing legal cases rather than a fresh unilateral U.S. declaration of extrajudicial capture [5] [3] [4].
4. How the fact has been used politically and in media narratives
Political actors and partisan outlets immediately invoked the reward in competing narratives: critics of Biden accused his team of hypocrisy for not “enforcing” the reward, while supporters emphasized legal process and diplomacy; conservative commentators and Republican officials repeatedly cited the $25 million figure to argue the administration had pursued Maduro in other ways, and outlets ranging from The Gateway Pundit to Senate statements amplified the number in partisan contexts [6] [7] [8].
5. Post-Biden developments and evolving reward amounts
Subsequent reporting documented further changes after the Biden term: by August 2025 the U.S. reportedly raised the reward again to $50 million under later U.S. action, a development noted in public legal summaries and press reporting that doubled the earlier $25 million figure — underscoring that reward levels have shifted over time and are tied to policy choices by successive administrations [3].
6. Bottom line and remaining caveats
The clear, documentable fact is that the Biden administration publicly increased the U.S. reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $25 million in January 2025; whether one calls that a “bounty” depends on semantics and political framing, and reporting at the time stressed the move’s symbolic and diplomatic intent rather than an operational capture effort [1] [2] [4]. This account rests on contemporary mainstream reporting and public statements; if further classified actions or internal deliberations are at issue, those are not established in the cited public sources [1] [3].