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Trump says US will ‘run’ Venezuela until ‘judicious transition’ following capture of Maduro
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Trump says ‘we’re going to run’ Venezuela
01:26 • Source: CNN
Trump says ‘we’re going to run’ Venezuela
01:26
• Trump’s plan for Venezuela: President Donald Trump said the US will indefinitely “run the country” of Venezuela and “rebuild the oil infrastructure” after capturing President Nicolás Maduro in a large-scale military operation today. He suggested the US would remain on-site until the nation is “back on track” but didn’t specify a timeline.
• What’s next for Maduro: The Venezuela leader is expected to arrive today in New York, where he will face drugs and weapons charges. His wife, Cilia Flores, was also taken into custody after the couple was dragged from their bedroom by elite US forces during the overnight raid.
• On the ground: Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado has called for an opposition candidate to be installed as leader, while the county’s foreign minister insists Maduro remains the country’s head. Venezuelans in the capital have voiced mixed reactions to the US’s operation, with some celebrating the “positive change” and others saying Maduro’s capture creates “an even worse conflict.”
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he does not believe Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has the support or respect needed to lead the country following the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Pressed on whether he has been in contact with Machado since Maduro’s capture, Trump said, “no.”
“I think it’d be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect to be leader.”
Democrats are accusing the Trump administration of lying to Congress in previous classified briefings on Venezuela, insisting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told members of Congress that regime change wasn’t their goal.
Senate Foreign Relations Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen warned that Congress is in the dark on any “long-term strategy” on Venezuela and said the administration “consistently misled” them.
Sen. Andy Kim wrote in a post on X that “Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth looked every Senator in the eye a few weeks ago and said this wasn’t about regime change. I didn’t trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress.”
Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat on the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, agreed. “The Trump Administration repeatedly lied to Congress and the American people about Venezuela. Over and over, officials testified that this was not about regime change,” he said.
Sen. Chris Coons, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, also said that lawmakers were given “false” information by the administration.
Democrats also demanded an immediate briefing on the operation and the administration’s plan to deal with the aftermath of removing Maduro. The Senate is scheduled to return from recess on Monday, and the House is set to return on Tuesday.
Remember: Following a briefing by Rubio and Hegseth in December, ahead of the holiday recess, senators from both parties told CNN they left without a clear sense of whether the administration was actively working toward a regime change in Venezuela.
At the time, GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin insisted that regime change “was never a conversation” in the briefing with all senators, and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said that the briefers were “very careful in that briefing not to get over their skis on the future war plans.”
President Donald Trump clarified that the US would put troops in Venezuela for the purposes of securing oil, vowing the money would go toward reimbursing Venezuelans and the United States for damages caused under Nicolás Maduro’s leadership.
Trump said earlier during a news conference in Florida that he would not rule out the possibility of US military involvement, saying, “We’re not afraid of boots in the ground.”
Asked by CNN’s Kevin Liptak whether he envisions US boots on the ground while the US essentially runs the Venezuelan government in an interim period, Trump said, “Well, no, we’re going to have a presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil.”
Trump downplayed how many troops would be needed, adding, “We’re sending our expertise in, so you may need something, not very much.”
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