US Special Forces hostage Luke Denman, 34, is paraded on Venezuelan TV, admits to plot to capture Maduro and holds up coup contract, as Pompeo denies US involvement and says if he'd been 'directly' involved it would have 'gone differently'

A former U.S. special force soldier arrested in Venezuela was paraded on Venezuelan TV Wednesday as he 'admitted to a plot to capture President Nicolas Maduro'. 

Luke Denman, 34, was arrested Monday alongside fellow American Airan Berry, 41, and six Venezuelan mercenaries as part of the foiled coup that he said was commanded by President Donald Trump through an ex-Green Beret named Jordan Goudreau, 43. 

'The only instructions I received from Jordan were that I should make sure to take control of the airport for safe passage transfer of Maduro and receiving airplanes,' Denman said.

'Take Maduro back to the United States'.  

In the broadcast, Denman also holds up a document that he says is the contract with Goudreau's company Silvercorp outlining his job for the mission. He states that it is signed by Goudreau, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, as well as his advisor Juan Rendón. 

It came after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ridiculed the idea of official government involvement Wednesday, saying: 'There was no U.S. government direct involvement in this operation.

'(If) we'd have been involved, it would have gone differently.'

Asked who may have bankrolled the operation, Pompeo said: 'We're not prepared to share any more information about what we know took place.' 

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Luke Denman, 34, was arrested alongside  fellow American Airan Berry, 41, six Venezuelan mercenaries as part of the foiled coup of Venezuela. He appeared on Venezuelan TV on Wednesday speaking about the failed attempt

In the video broadcast to Venezuelan state TV, the American citizen identifies himself as Luke Alexander Denman from Austin, Texas. 

'It would properly mean World War,' he said of the scenario pitched by the interviewer in which Venezuelans would attempt an attack of the United States in the same way. 

He said that he entered the U.S. Army in 2006 and served for five years. He claims to have met Goudreau for the first time in Germany in 2009 or 2010.  

Goudreau has previously said that Denman served in Iraq and Afghanistan with him.  

The second American arrested Monday - Airan Berry - did not feature in the video released by Maduro on Wednesday. 

In the clip, Denman said that he was first approached by Goudreau about the plot in early December but was given very few details. 

'I believed that it was helping their cause,' said of his involvement. 

'I was helping Venezuelans take back control of their country.' 

He says in the video clip that he flew into Columbia on January 16 with Goudreau and Airan Berry, 41, who was also arrested Monday. 

The former soldier added that the plan was to meet with Venezuelans and train them in Colombia. 

He describes being driven from the airport to Riohacha by a woman named Alex and that they stayed in safehouses there where they were visited by a man in a wheelchair that Denman says looked like he had 'some influence'. 

The former soldier adds that they were welcomed by a person named Jackal and that his job involved devlivering training to the Venezuelans on planning, mission planning and tactical work inside buildings.

While Goudreau has claimed a force of 300 was assembled, Denman says it was much smaller: 'There was three small groups. In total it was 60 so 20 people per group.'

After training, the Americans would then travel to Venezuela, he claimed, where they would work to secure Caracas and an airport. He said he expected between $50,000 and $100,000 for the job. 

Denman claimed to have no information on any other training camps and he said that just he and Berry had been contracted by Goudreau's company Silvercorp. 

He says that he and Berry were the only two Americans he knew to be contracted in the mission. 

Denman was asked to outline the leadership in the mission through a series of questions about who had commanded the coup and who had supplied equipment. 

When questioned about why the Trump administration may wanted to attack Venezuela 'if we don't represent a threat for your country', Denman answered 'I don't know'. 

At the end of the edited video, Denman presents a document which he says is a contract detailing his 'mercenary work' with Silvercorp that is signed by Guaidó, Goudreau and Rendón.

Earlier in the recorded clip he said that he had first seen the document just over a month before.  

President Maduro also presented the alleged contract as the press conference continued. The document describes a $212.9million fee for the mission.  

Goudreau, 43, has claimed responsibility for the attack but the U.S. government has denied all involvement. Goudreau claims to have built a force of 300 men, reportedly backed by US billionaires, to carry out the mission to capture Maduro and bring him to the United States. 

Maduro compared the failed attempt at his capture to the Bay of Pigs, the infamous 1961 failed landing of Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro that was supported by the United States. 

The president on Wednesday claimed that Goudreau was linked to President Trump, claiming the ex-Green Beret provided Donald Trump with bodyguard and protection service on many occasions.   

'I believe that the facts speak for themselves. Top tier testimonials have emerged that speak to the involvement of this ex-Green Beret, Jordan Goudreau, president and owner of Florida-based security firm Silver Corp,' Maduro said. 

'Jordan Goudreau was the one who contacted the State Department of the United States of North America to be the head of security for the show that they staged on the Cucutá border on February 22, 2019 with a famous billionaire Richard Branson, a multimillionaire [whose business has been] broken by the coronavirus.'  

The 'Live Aid for Venezuela' concert was reported by Associated Press as the event that spurred Goudreau to form a plot to overthrown Maduro. 

Maduro added further accusations about the coup, asking what the consequences would be if roles were reversed.  

'They will be judged with all of their rights. These Americans have found another Venezuela they didn't expect,' he said. 

'I would ask if a group of Venezuelans prepared an incursion against the United States in a city, in Miami, in New York, in Washington, and they were downright captured, what would happen to those Venezuelans? What punishment would they received? Would they capture them alive? Would they forgive them?' 

He later added that Venezuela would approach the United Nations and the International court about the attempted attack.  

'We are going to the International Criminal Court,' Maduro said. 

'We are going to the UN Security Council. I have given direct instructions to the ambassador, Professor Samuel Moncada, who is in New York, who is listening to us ... so that we can prepare a substantial complaint before the United Nations Security Council. ... What Venezuela wants is peace. 

'The affairs of Venezuelans are our affairs, our problems, and we with our own capacities, our own methods and models, only we must solve our problem.' 

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Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds a document during a virtual news conference in Caracas which he claimed was a contract signed between the coup's ringleader Jordan Goudreau and Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaidó

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The contract the Maduro claims was signed as part of a failed attempt at a $212.9million coup by his opposition

U.S. former special forces soldiers Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41, were arrested in Venezuela on Monday a day after eight people were killed and two others arrested linked to the coup plot. 

The leader of the failed Venezuela coup has apparently provided security for Donald Trump. 

Goudreau can be seen in footage with an earpiece at one of the president's rallies in Charlotte, North Carolina, in October 2018. He also claims to have provided security at a rally in Houston four days earlier.

The website for his private security firm Silvercorp claims he has planned and led international security teams for the President as well as the Secretary of Defense.

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Luke Denman (left) and Airan Berry (right): Two arrested US 'mercenaries playing Rambo' are paraded after failed attempt 'to kill' Venezuela's Maduro in a failed raid, the president claimed 

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Luke Denman (right) and Airan Berry (left), both former U.S. special forces soldiers, were arrested Monday for their part in an attempted coup of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Denman featured in a video released Wednesday in which he claimed the Goudreau coup was under the command of President Donald Trump. Berry has not yet been seen

President Donald Trump Tuesday denied any involvement by the U.S. government in Monday's failed attack.

'We'll find out. We just heard about it,' Trump said when asked about the incident and the Americans' arrests. 

'But it has nothing to do with our government.'

It has also emerged that he struck on the idea of a coup after meeting with Trump's longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller and speaking with a billionaire backer.     

Goudreau accompanied Schiller to a meeting in Miami with activist Lester Toledo, then Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó's coordinator for the delivery of humanitarian aid. 

The White House says Schiller cut off all contact with Goudreau after the meeting.