UPDATED: Speaking at a press conference hours after the attacks on Venezuela, President Donald Trump said that the U.S. would be in charge of running the country after the toppling of leader Nicolás Maduro.
“We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition, and it has to be judicious, because that is what we are all about,” Trump told reporters, as he said that the goal was for a country that was “rich, independent and safe.”
He later indicated to reporters that his advisers, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, would be tasked with running the country. The president did not give an indication of how long the U.S. occupation would last, although he said that what is going to happen over the period of a year is “going to be a great thing.”
Trump also expressed doubts that María Corina Machado, the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, could take over, saying that she does “not have respect throughout the country.” Trump said that Rubio has spoken to Venezuela’s vice president, who was picked by Maduro, and “she is essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”
It is unclear whether that will mean troops on the ground, but the president did not rule it out. Trump said that the U.S. was “ready to stage” a second “much larger attack if we need to do so.”
The president also said that U.S. oil companies would be enlisted to fix Venezuela’s infrastructure in order to “start making money for the country.” He also said that the oil reserves will fund the U.S. operations. “We are going to get reimbursed for everything we are going to spend,” he said.
The president and his team have offered several reasons for the operation, including stopping the flow of drugs, gangs and violence to the United States. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also cited “getting back the oil that was stolen from us.”
Maduro and his wife are on their way to the United States to face multiple charges in New York. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the charges include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.
Networks covered the strikes on Venezuela throughout the night, with Trump posting during the 4 a.m. ET hour that Maduro had been captured. Trump’s press conference was carried across broadcast and cable outlets.
While Trump’s action drew words of praise from many of his supporters, one of his former loyalists, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), was highly critical.
She wrote on X, “Americans disgust with our own government’s never ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it and both parties, Republicans and Democrats, always keep the Washington military machine funded and going. This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong.”
Trump also posted an image of Maduro onboard the USS Iwo Jima.