U.S. prepares to sanction Venezuela officials, Maduro defies threat

By Matt Spetalnick and Andrew CawthorneWASHINGTON/CARACAS (Reuters) - The Trump administration is preparing sanctions against several senior Venezuelan officials, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to abort plans for a controversial congress foes say would cement dictatorship.Maduro's leftist government vowed to proceed with the July 30 vote for the new Constituent Assembly despite what it called a "brutal interventionist" threat from its ideological foe.