When President Donald Trump hosted Republican senators for lunch at the White House on Oct. 21, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, came prepared.
Moreno, who was born in Colombia, has become a key voice on policy involving the Latin American nation — and one that’s deeply critical of the current left-wing president, Gustavo Petro.
Two days before the lunch, Trump, at odds with Petro for months, posted on social media that Petro was “an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs” in Colombia. Trump said he was stopping all U.S. aid to the country and told reporters he would soon announce new tariffs on Colombia.
Moreno wanted to encourage Trump to take a more targeted approach — directly aimed at Petro. To do so, the senator brought along a document titled “The Trump Doctrine For Colombia and the Western Hemisphere.” In addition to five policy ideas, the one-page outline featured large images of Petro and Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, in orange prison jumpsuits. The images appear to be generated by artificial intelligence. NBC News obtained the memo from a person familiar with the episode.
Now that document is at the center of an even further strain in diplomatic relationships between Colombia and the U.S.
On Sunday, the publication Cambio Colombia first reported on the existence of the document when it discovered that the White House had posted a photo from the Oct. 21 event showing James Blair, a deputy chief of staff, holding Moreno’s memo.
Petro posted on X that he was recalling the Colombian ambassador to the U.S. for the second time in a month and demanding to know why he is being portrayed “as if I were a prisoner,” calling the print-out “a brutal disrespect” to his supporters and nation.
And on Monday, Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio told journalists in Santa Marta that her government had "sent verbal notes to the United States through our diplomatic representation" to "request clarification regarding" Moreno's memo.
The episode also marks the latest chapter in the use of fake images in politics. The Trump administration has made extensive use of AI-generated images and videos in online political messaging, with the president himself often sharing them on social media.
The White House directed NBC News to Moreno’s office for comment. Moreno’s office declined to comment.
Moreno, who was born in Bogota and immigrated to the U.S. as a child, is among a few lawmakers advocating on Colombia policy to the president. A Treasury Department official told NBC News that both Moreno and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who endorsed Trump’s call to impose new tariffs on the South American nation, have been backchanneling on Colombia to the White House for a while, with their advocacy culminating at the Rose Garden lunch in October. This person, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been heavily involved as well.
Tensions between the two nations have risen in recent months with the U.S. building up its military deployment in the Caribbean in an effort to target Venezuela. U.S. forces have killed dozens aboard boats officials say are trafficking drugs into the U.S. as lawmakers in both parties have called for the Trump administration to share evidence to support its claims.
Moreno’s memo called for the president to designate more cartels as foreign terrorist organizations; target Petro, his family and associates for further sanctions; and launch an investigation into Petro’s campaign finances, among other measures. The proposal did not include advocacy for new Colombian tariffs or the cutting off of aid to the country. It also did not call for the U.S. to engage in a regime-change effort.
Moreno's document is below. (NBC News added in the watermarks indicating the images are fake.)
Three days after the lunch with senators, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against Petro, his family and a government official over allegations of involvement in the global drug trade, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying in a statement that Petro “has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity.” Petro has strongly denied involvement with the drug trade and has said he will fight the sanctions in U.S. courts.
Trump has yet to announce new tariffs on Colombia. And CNN reported last week that there has been no interruption yet to U.S. assistance to the country.
Petro, a socialist, accused the U.S. of killing a fisherman last month in one of its attacks on a boat the U.S. claimed was involved in drug smuggling. The U.S. revoked Petro’s visa during the United Nations General Assembly in September after the Colombian leader spoke at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York and called for U.S. soldiers to resist Trump.
Writing for Time magazine, Petro on Sunday countered Trump’s claims, saying that his government had delivered “record cocaine seizures” and that the U.S. government’s support “was crucial in this fight.”
“Whatever the attitudes of the current administration, I will continue to pursue a counter-narcotics and broader security policy that is in the interests of Colombians and Americans alike,” he wrote.
Petro himself has called out Moreno as leading the charge against him. After the Trump administration announced the sanctions on him last month, Petro posted on X that Moreno’s “threat has come true.”
Separately, Moreno pushed back on claims Petro made that he and Trump sought to overthrow him in a coup.
“That’s 100% completely false,” Moreno wrote on social media last month. “The United States wants the people of Colombia to have a free and fair election, as scheduled, without any influence from outside agitators or narco traffickers.”
Colombian officials who spoke with NBC News said they believed the country avoided new tariffs because of the advocacy of some Colombians in government and in business who are close to both Moreno and Trump-allied lawmakers in South Florida.
Andrés Pastrana, who was the president of Colombia from 1998 through 2002 and aligned with the right, said Moreno and Republican Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Gimenez and Mario Diaz-Balart, all of Florida, have had “big influence” in convincing the Trump administration. He also said the U.S. should not equate all Colombians with Petro and his views, adding that imposing tariffs on the entire country could carry a significant “political risk” and help to “re-elect the left” by giving Petro the ability to tap into nationalistic fervor.
