Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, isn’t the only member of the family wading into foreign policy. His son is facing mounting backlash after invoking his late brother’s overdose death to justify the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
In a lengthy post on X, Alex Witkoff tied the U.S. operation against Maduro to the death of his brother Andrew Witkoff, who died in 2011 at age 22 from an OxyContin overdose. Writing Sunday on what would have been Andrew’s 37th birthday, Witkoff called it “surreal” that the date coincided with Trump’s capture of Maduro, whom he labeled “an illegitimate narco-terrorist dictator.”
Yesterday my family would have been celebrating my brother Andrew’s 37th birthday. Instead, he’s gone, overtaken by a drug overdose
Drug overdoses are a national catastrophe and now the #1 killer of Americans ages 18–45
It’s surreal that on Andrew’s birthday, President Trump…— Alex Witkoff (@Alex_Witkoff) January 4, 2026
Witkoff went further, accusing Maduro of overseeing a drug network that “helped poison an entire generation of Americans,” and arguing that “anyone who defends Maduro is turning their back on tens of millions of American families afflicted by this drug overdose crisis every single day.”
The post quickly sparked confusion and anger online. Critics pointed out that Andrew Witkoff’s death has long been publicly documented as the result of an opioid overdose in a California rehabilitation facility, not drug trafficking tied to Venezuela.
Journalist Max Blumenthal replied directly to Witkoff’s post, citing the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the Witkoff family against the One80 Center rehab facility, where Andrew overdosed on OxyContin. Calling it “twisted to exploit a tragic family loss,” he noted that the drug is manufactured by the American company Purdue Pharma, owned by the Sackler family, not trafficked by the Venezuelan state.
That correction was later echoed by X’s Community Notes fact-checking feature, which added a clarification beneath Witkoff’s post: “Andrew Witkoff died from an OxyContin overdose. OxyContin is an opioid and was developed by Purdue Pharma. OxyContin is not related to Venezuela or President Maduro, who is accused of trafficking cocaine into the US. Cocaine is a stimulant, not an opioid.”
While Venezuela has been accused by U.S. authorities of facilitating cocaine trafficking, opioids—the drugs responsible for the majority of U.S. overdose deaths—are overwhelmingly linked to pharmaceutical manufacturers and domestic distribution networks. Purdue Pharma, owned by the Sackler family, reached a $7.4 billion settlement over its role in the opioid epidemic after decades of aggressively marketing OxyContin while downplaying its addictive risks.
Alex’s comments landed amid heightened scrutiny of the Trump administration’s Venezuela policy. U.S. authorities successfully detained Maduro this week following a coordinated international operation. The leader made his first court appearance today in New York, where he, along with his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty. Maduro told the judge he still considers himself the president of Venezuela, while the future of the country remains uncertain under acting President Delcy Rodriguez.
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