Live updates: Trump warns Venezuela to cooperate or risk new U.S. military attack – NBC News

Colombia’s foreign minister said the country’s military is prepared to defend it in the event of an attack by the United States.

“If such aggression were to occur, the military must defend the national territory and the country’s sovereignty,” Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villaviencio said at a press conference.

She cautioned that she is hoping to strengthen relations with the United States and improve cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking.

“We insist on using diplomatic channels, using international law mechanisms, to talk, to reach agreements. The Trump government must know in more detail everything we do in the fight against drugs,” Villaviencio said. “That is a task we have and that we are working on from the embassy to achieve maximum closeness with advisers and people who are close to President Trump, to convey all the results of all the work being done.”

A crude oil tanker linked with Venezuela but navigating under a Russian flag is being monitored “with concern,” the Kremlin told state media today.

The “Marinera,” formerly known as the “Bella 1,” has been on the U.S. sanctions list since June 2024. It is being “actively pursued” by the United States and was last tracked in the Atlantic Ocean between Ireland and Newfoundland on Jan. 3, according to the Marine Traffic website.

But in a statement carried by the state-run Tass news agency, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it was “monitoring with concern the anomalous situation surrounding the Russian oil tanker Marinera.”

“For several days now, Marinera has been followed by a U.S. Coast Guard ship, despite the fact that the vessel is located approximately 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) from the U.S. coastline,” the statement said.

The National Press Club condemned the detention of journalists in Venezuela and said it “welcomes their release.”

“Journalists engaged in newsgathering are civilians, and international law protects the work of reporting the news,” the statement said. It added that the detention and intimidation of reporters “violates core press freedom principles and deprives the public of critical information.”

“Journalists must be able to do their jobs without fear of arrest, retaliation, or expulsion,” the National Press Club statement said. “When governments target reporters, it undermines independent journalism and weakens accountability.”

The club said it is “deeply concerned” about the climate in Venezuela for reporters and that it “stands in solidarity with journalists working under threat to inform the world.”

Attorney General of Venezuela Tarek William Saab addressed the country’s National Assembly today and called on the judge overseeing Maduro’s legal proceedings in the U.S. to respect international law.

“I call on Judge Alvin Hellerstein to respect international law and recognize the lack of jurisdiction of the court at his disposal to prosecute the head of a sovereign nation such as Venezuela, who is protected by diplomatic immunity,” Saab said, indicating he believes Maduro’s capture and prosecution in the U.S. is illegal.

He also called for the investigation of “the dozens of innocent civilian and military casualties that occurred in the midst of this war crime,” noting that the National Assembly has appointed three prosecutors to lead the charge.

Gunfire rang out near the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, last night, prompting security forces to fire at unidentified drones, witnesses told NBC News.

The U.S. was not involved in the gunfire, according to two U.S. officials, leaving questions about what exactly happened in the capital last night.

At Venezuela’s border with Colombia, families are saying goodbye to one another. 

Patricia Lopez crossed the border Sunday with her two young sons after traveling almost 550 miles from her home in the city of Barquisimeto to the town of Cúcuta just across the Colombian border. 

“The truth is I’m in shock,” she said. “I don’t believe what’s happening right now.” She added that she was hoping, at least in the short term, to be with relatives in Colombia.

Patricia Lopez with her son at the border in Cúcuta, Colombia. Gabe Gutierrez / NBC News

According to the United Nations, around 8 million Venezuelans have been displaced since 2014, and nearly 3 million have stayed in Colombia. There has not been a noticeable increase in migration since Maduro’s capture, but Colombia’s government has surged resources to the border just in case.

Trump praised the operation in Venezuela, saying in a speech before House Republicans that “we had a lot of boots on the ground, but it was amazing.”

“Think of it, nobody was killed,” he said. “And on the other side, a lot of people were killed.”

The president also touted the military as “fearsome,” adding that “nobody can take us.”

He said that the U.S. would also start producing weapons “much faster.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news briefing today that his government is looking at a state case against Maduro.

“We are looking very seriously at … bringing a state case against Maduro,” he said.

DeSantis alleged that Maduro was “very involved” with what he said was Venezuelans smuggling drugs across the border and into Florida.

He also said Maduro “would empty his prisons and send them to America across the border,” alleging that members of the Tren de Aragua gang ended up in Florida and victimized people in the state. This was not listed in the federal indictment against Maduro.

Venezuela was not the main topic of the news conference. It was addressed during a question-and-answer portion following the speech.

Speaking exclusively to NBC News, Trump said several top officials will oversee Venezuela, but when asked who will ultimately be in charge, the president said: “Me.”

“I do get the sense that they’re cooperating,” he said. “They need help.”

Elections in the Latin American country will take some time, and the president asserted they will not take place within 30 days.

“It’s going to take a period of time. We have to nurse the country back to health,” he said, seemingly bracing both Americans and Venezuelans that there may be a prolonged presence in the country.

According to a Reuters poll, 72% of Americans are worried that the U.S. will become too involved in Venezuela, but Trump maintained that “MAGA loves everything I do.”

Trump gave no specific timeline when asked about invading other nations that surround Venezuela, but he made it clear that he is watching countries like Cuba and Colombia very closely. He has been known to be critical of both of the countries’ leaders and of their reputations for trafficking drugs.

Maduro appeared in court alongside his wife, Cilia Flores, yesterday, where he said he was captured and declared himself a “prisoner of war” in the U.S. Both pleaded not guilty to federal charges against them.

It came as Trump asserted that the U.S. is now in control of the South American nation, and as Stephen Miller, the homeland security adviser, doubled down after Trump left the door open for a potential takeover of Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous Danish territory.

The full Senate will receive a briefing tomorrow on the operation to capture Maduro, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. The full briefing comes after top lawmakers were briefed yesterday afternoon on the operation. 

Senators will be briefed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine.

The Senate is also expected to vote Thursday on a war powers resolution that would require the Trump administration to get congressional approval before future military operations in Venezuela.

Yesterday, the same group of administration officials briefed the so-called Gang of Eight, which includes the top lawmakers in both the House and the Senate, as well as the leaders of the Intelligence committees.

European NATO allies warned the United States on Tuesday that they would “not stop defending” the values of sovereignty and territorial integrity following President Donald Trump’s threats against the Danish island of Greenland.

Trump and his team have ramped up hostile suggestions that they want to seize Greenland, a vast Arctic island of just 50,000 people with mineral and strategic significance. The U.S. attack against Venezuela and capture of President Nicolas Maduro — which the United Nations said undermined international law — has raised fears that this might not be an empty threat.

The European leaders were in Paris meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and others, according to a White House official. It is the latest in frenzied rounds of shuttle diplomacy to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Though these negotiations have accelerated since November, the U.S. attack on Venezuela and continued suggestions of seizing Denmark have cast a shadow over the talks, which are being held with the very allies who — under NATO’s principle of collective defense — Trump is suggesting attacking.

Read the full story here.

Delcy Rodriguez, the vice president in Maduro’s regime, was sworn in as interim president yesterday.

Also yesterday, Rodriguez softened her tone, indicating she is willing to work with the U.S. and the Trump administration, even as she has instructed those in her government to arrest anyone who supported the attack over the weekend.

A U.S. official told NBC News that a recent classified intelligence assessment determined the top members of Maduro’s regime, including Rodriguez, were best positioned to lead the temporary government, and that was a factor in Trump’s administration not backing the opposition leader, María Corina Machado.

Trump has predicted that the U.S. may be stationed in Venezuela for months to help oil companies rebuild. He has also indicated there may be an opening for U.S. action in nearby countries Colombia and Cuba.

The Venezuelan political movement led by opposition leader María Corina Machado has called for the release of all political prisoners in the country after the U.S. military raid and capture of its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

“Those who unjustly hold the civilian and military political prisoners should free them immediately,” the movement said in a statement, reposted on X by Machado.

Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her opposition to Maduro.

Gunfire was heard last night in downtown Caracas as Venezuelan police fired at unidentified drones, according to Vice Minister of Communications Simon Arrechider. The White House said in a statement it was “closely tracking reports of gunfire,” adding that the U.S. was not involved.

An oil tanker linked with Venezuela that is being “actively pursued” by the United States has been located in the Atlantic Ocean between Ireland and Newfoundland.

The crude oil tanker “Marinera,” formerly known as the “Bella 1,” was last tracked Saturday, according to the Marine Traffic website. It has been on the U.S. sanctions list list since June 2024.

“The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion. It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order,” a U.S. official with knowledge of the matter told NBC News last month. The tanker is currently sailing under the flag of Russia.

It comes as the U.S. has been moving military assets to the United Kingdom. Flight tracking data shows that 13 Air Force C-17A Globemaster IIIs, a large military transport aircraft, flew from U.S. Air Force bases to the U.K. between Saturday and yesterday.

A recent classified intelligence assessment determined that top members of the Maduro regime were best positioned to lead Venezuela’s government and maintain stability if Nicolás Maduro lost power, a U.S. official told NBC News.

That included Delcy Rodriguez, who was sworn in as the new president of the South American country yesterday, they said, adding that the assessment was a factor in the Trump administration not backing Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leader.

Trump said over the weekend that Machado didn’t have enough respect to lead Venezuela. 

NBC News has not seen the assessment, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Protests against the U.S.’ capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro have been held around the world.

Before his arraignment at a Manhattan federal courthouse in New York yesterday, some held signs calling for his release.

Stefan Jeremiah / AP

In Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires some people burned U.S. flags outside the American Embassy.

Silvana Safenreiter / Reuters

It was a similar story in the Philippines, where some demonstrators burned the Stars and Stripes outside the embassy in Manila.

Ted Aljibe / AFP via Getty Images

Elsewhere, a protester wearing a mask depicting Trump joined other demonstrators in front of the U.S. Embassy in South Korea’s capital, Seoul.

Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Embassy was also the focal point for protests in the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, yesterday.

Petros Karadjias / AP

And in the Indian city of Jammu on Monday, members of the Indian Communist Party came out in force to express their solidarity with the now-deposed Venezuelan president.

Channi Anand / AP

Trafigura Group, one of the world’s largest oil traders, will hold talks with the U.S. government over a possible return to Venezuela, a senior executive said today.

“It’s the topic everyone’s discussing in the oil industry. I think everyone is looking at what opportunities there may be in Venezuela,” the company’s global head of oil, Ben Luckock, told Bloomberg.

U.S. foreign policy seeks colonize Latin American nations, according to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who compared American expansionism to that of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

Petro was responding to a post on X from Paloma Valencia L, a Colombian presidential candidate who defended the U.S. military action and said it “opened an opportunity for a free Venezuela.”

“If you believe that an innocent Colombian woman, elderly Venezuelan women, and young soldiers doing their duty should have died, then you will think the same about the Colombian people if Trump’s threat becomes a reality. That is simply treason,” he said.

The Monroe Doctrine, the long-standing foreign policy doctrine that justifies the U.S. dominating the Western Hemisphere, “seeks to turn sovereign Latin American republics into colonies,” he said.

European NATO allies have issued a joint statement on Greenland, warning the United States that they “will not stop defending” the values of sovereignty and territorial integrity when it comes to the Danish-governed territory.

The statement was issued by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Prime Ministers Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, Keir Starmer of Britain, Giorgia Meloni of Italy, Donald Tusk of Poland and Pedro Sánchez of Spain.

A Trump aircraft arrives in Nuuk, Greenland, in January 2025. Emil Stach / AFP via Getty Images

“The Kingdom of Denmark — including Greenland — is part of NATO,” the statement said. “Security in the Arctic must therefore be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the U.N. Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders. These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them.”

It added that “the United States is an essential partner in this endeavor, as a NATO ally” and through a 1951 defense agreement allowing Washington to build military bases on the vast island. “Greenland belongs to its people,” it added. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” it added.

The National Union of Press Workers of Venezuela said 14 journalists and media workers were detained at the National Assembly in the country’s capital, Caracas, yesterday, 13 of them from international organizations and one from Venezuela.

The union, known by its Spanish abbreviation SNTP, said 13 had been released and one had been deported. The SNTP also said it documented the inspection of equipment and the unlocking of phones.

A journalist works at the border between Venezuela and Colombia, in Cucuta on Sunday. Luisa Gonzalez / Reuters

The union said the detentions were “alarming” and repeated its “demand for guarantees for the free exercise of journalism.”

It said 23 journalists remain in detention in Venezuela.

The United States has “undermined a fundamental principle of international law” with its military operation in Venezuela, the United Nations’ human rights commissioner has said.

“It is clear that the operation undermined a fundamental principle of international law — that States must not threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“We fear that the current instability and further militarization in the country resulting from the U.S. intervention will only make the situation worse,” Shamdasani said.

Writing in The Guardian yesterday, Commissioner Volker Türk said he was “deeply disturbed” by the raid and seizure of Nicolás Maduro, which he said “sends a signal that the powerful can do whatever they like.”

China said the U.S. had “disregarded” Maduro’s status as a head of state, repeating its calls for his release a day after the deposed leader and his wife pleaded not guilty in their first New York court appearance.

Court sketch of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, yesterday.  Jane Rosenberg

“The United States has disregarded President Maduro’s status as a head of state, and has openly brought charges and carried out so-called trials against him in its domestic courts, which seriously infringes upon Venezuela’s national sovereignty and gravely undermines the stability of international relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular briefing in Beijing.

“No country may place its own domestic rules above international law,” she added.

Mao said China calls on the U.S. to immediately release Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, “and to ensure their personal safety.”

María Corina Machado said in an interview on “Hannity” tonight that she dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump as soon as she learned she had been awarded it, saying she believed in him even more after Trump’s capture of Maduro.

Asked whether she had offered to give Trump the prize, Machado said: “It hasn’t happened yet, but I’d certainly love to be able to personally tell him that we believe — the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people — certainly want to give it to him and share it with him.”

Machado added that international leaders should not trust Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim leader, calling her “one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco-trafficking” and an ally of Russia, China and Iran.

Machado said that she hopes to return to Venezuela as soon as possible but that for now she thinks she is more useful to her cause in exile.

President Donald Trump said he believes the U.S. oil industry could get expanded operations in Venezuela “up and running” in fewer than 18 months.

“I think we can do it in less time than that, but it’ll be a lot of money,” Trump told NBC News in an interview.

“A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent, and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue,” he said.

Whether the U.S. government ultimately agrees to reimburse the oil industry’s costs in Venezuela, or alternatively, decides that future revenue is sufficient repayment, will likely be a key factor for the oil companies as they consider their options.

Read the full story here.

Venezuela will not have new elections in the next 30 days, President Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC News, projecting a longer-term engagement two days after U.S. forces captured that nation’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.

“We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote,” Trump said about the possibility of a vote in the next month. “No, it’s going to take a period of time. We have — we have to nurse the country back to health.”

In the roughly 20-minute interview, Trump discussed the path forward in Venezuela, including when there will be elections, the opportunities for oil companies and Congress’ role.

Read the full story here.