In January 2026, as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a nighttime mission in Caracas that left dozens of Cuban officers dead, a claim (archived) circulated online that Trump's former adviser on Russia, Fiona Hill, said during a 2019 deposition that Russia "wanted to somehow make some very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine."
Social media users shared the purported quote, with some speculating that the Trump administration's capture of Maduro showed Hill's reported deal had become part of U.S. foreign policy. One X user wrote (archived), "This is transactional Trump deal-making, first and foremost. No real risk taken, he gets what he wants, Vlad gets what he wants, and his image is burnished. Boom: peacemaker."
The claim also circulated on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived). Snopes readers wrote in, asking whether Hill had spoken the reported words.
The quote that circulated online was correctly attributed to Hill, who spoke about the proposed "very strange swap" during an Oct. 14, 2019, deposition for the U.S. House foreign affairs, intelligence and oversight committees. The deposition was part of the 2019 impeachment inquiry into Trump over allegations he illegally sought help from Ukraine, a foreign power, to increase his chances of re-election in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee released the transcript of Hill's deposition that included her reported quote on Nov. 8, 2019.
What Hill said
According to Hill's deposition, she had first heard of the "very strange swap" in March 2019 when she said the U.S. was in a "standoff" about Venezuela, after Russia sent planes of military personnel to the country. Hill said (Page 58, emphasis ours):
The Russians at this particular juncture were signaling very strongly that they wanted to somehow make some very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine.
In other words, if we were going to exert some semblance of the Monroe Doctrine of, you know, Russia keeping out of our backyard — because this is after the Russians had sent in these hundred operatives essentially to, you know, basically secure the Venezuelan Government and, you know, to preempt what they were obviously taking to be some kind of U.S. military action — they were basically signaling: You know, you have your Monroe Doctrine. You want us out of your backyard. Well, you know, we have our own version of this. You're in our backyard in Ukraine. And we were getting that sent to us, you know, kind of informally through channels. It was in the Russian press, various commentators.
The Monroe Doctrine, a tenet of U.S. foreign policy first outlined by President James Monroe in 1823, suggested dividing the world into spheres of influence. At the time, Monroe spoke of the American and European spheres. According to Monroe, the two major powers should not interfere with countries within each other's spheres.
Hill recounted her answer later in questioning by then-Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. Hill said the Russians had signaled, both publicly through news articles and during discussions Hill was party to, that (pages 362-363):
… as the U.S. was so concerned about the Monroe Doctrine and its own backyard, perhaps the U.S. might also be then concerned about developments in Russia's backyard as in Ukraine, making it very obvious that they were trying to set up some kind of let's just say: You stay out of Ukraine or you move out of Ukraine, you change your position on Ukraine, and, you know, we'll rethink where we are with Venezuela.
The 'Donroe Doctrine'
At the time of this writing, Snopes could not independently verify whether the U.S. had carried out the swap Hill said Russia wanted in 2019 or whether such a deal made the Trump administration's capture of Maduro possible. The proposed swap would involve the U.S. withdrawing influence from Ukraine. We reached out to the White House and the State Department to ask about speculation the Trump administration had agreed to suggested swap with Russia and await replies to our queries.
In January 2026, Ukraine met with its European allies to discuss a U.S.-led 20-point peace plan. That plan would involve at least 15 years of "security guarantees" by the U.S. if successful, meaning the U.S. would likely continue to exert influence over Ukraine.
Though the Trump administration did not appear to have entered the exact swap Hill said Russia proposed in 2019, the Monroe Doctrine did appear to be a central part of U.S. foreign policy and formed part of the Trump administration's explanation for its mission in Caracas.
During a news conference, Trump accused Venezuela of "hosting foreign adversaries in our region," which he said was "in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy," including the Monroe Doctrine. Trump appeared to express his commitment to the doctrine in U.S. foreign policy, saying, "Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."