The future governance of Venezuela remained uncertain following the US capture of the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, on Saturday, with splits emerging between US President Donald Trump’s administration, the US Congress and international leaders.
The United Nations Security Council debated the implications of the raid in an emergency meeting on Monday, with Russia, China and leftist allies of Venezuela condemning the operation.
In addition, Venezuela’s opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, said she hoped to return to the country shortly, and praised the US operation. But she said she had not spoken recently to Trump, who said following Maduro’s capture that Machado lacked the “respect” to lead Venezuela.
And on Monday, two sources told Reuters that a classified CIA assessment presented to Trump concluded senior Maduro loyalists, including Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, now the interim president, were best positioned to maintain stability.
Maduro and his wife face narcotics charges in the US. He pleaded not guilty in court in New York on Monday.
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On Sunday, Trump asserted that “we are in charge” of Venezuela. US White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reiterated to CNN on Monday that “the United States of America is running Venezuela,” although it does not have boots on the ground there.
“We set the terms and conditions. We have a complete embargo on all of their oil. So for them to do commerce, they need our permission,” Miller said.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson answers questions from reporters following a closed-door briefing from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and others about the US military operation in Venezuela at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, January 5, 2026. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
But US House Speaker Mike Johnson, also a Republican, said that Venezuela should hold elections soon. His comments came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called voting premature following the toppling of Maduro.
Speaking to reporters after a briefing to lawmakers from Rubio and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Johnson added that he did not expect the United States to send troops to Venezuela, a possibility that Trump refused to rule out publicly.
“I expect that there will be an election called in Venezuela,” said Johnson, the top member of Trump’s party in Congress.
“Some of these things are still being determined, of course, but it should happen in short order. And I think it will need to be, so that their economy can remain stabilized and the country can remain stabilized,” he said.
Rubio, Hegseth and other top administration officials had spent more than two hours briefing congressional leaders and the heads of national security committees about the Venezuela operation.
“If anybody wants to use the term nation-building, or anything like that, it doesn’t look like anything anybody has seen under President Trump,” said US Representative Brian Mast, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“They are not the protracted war administration,” Mast told reporters after the briefing.
US Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the US Senate’s Democratic leader, told reporters the briefing was extensive but posed more questions than it answered.
“Their plan for the US running Venezuela is vague, based on wishful thinking, and was unsatisfying,” Schumer said, adding that Trump officials would not rule out similar interventions in other countries.
The Senate is due to vote as soon as this week on whether to block further military action against Venezuela without congressional approval, a resolution co-sponsored by Schumer.
Republicans insist the weekend operation did not require congressional approval because it was very short and involved “law enforcement” to bring Maduro to court in New York.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives before meeting with lawmakers to discuss the recent US actions in Venezuela on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, on January 5, 2026. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
Meanwhile, Trump has made no secret of wanting to share in Venezuela’s oil riches, telling reporters on Air Force One on Sunday that American oil companies will return to Venezuela and rebuild the sector’s infrastructure.
He told NBC News on Monday that the US may subsidize the rebuilding of the country’s oil infrastructure by US companies, a project he claimed could be completed in less than 18 months.
CBS News, citing two unnamed sources, said representatives of oil giants Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron Corp would meet with US Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Thursday.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a meeting with then-Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, June 12, 2023. (AP/Ariana Cubillos)
In the UN meeting, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for respect for nations’ political independence.
Guterres urged “respect for the principles of sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of states,” according to remarks read on his behalf by Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo during the emergency Security Council meeting.
“I am deeply concerned about the possible intensification [of] instability in the country, the potential impact on the region, and the precedent it may set for how relations between and among states are conducted,” the UN chief’s remarks said.
Colombia — a new member of the Security Council that formally requested the meeting, and whose leader, Gustavo Petro, has clashed with Trump — also expressed concerns about US intentions.
The UN Charter permits “the use of force only under exceptional circumstances — in legitimate defense, in the face of an armed attack or when there is an express authorization by this Council,” said Colombian ambassador Leonor Zalabata Torres.
Even then, “this does not amount to assuming political control of another state,” she added.
Illustration: US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz speaks during a UN Security Council meeting at UN Headquarters in New York City, November 17, 2025. (Angela Weiss/AFP)
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz defended what he described as a “surgical law enforcement operation facilitated by the US military against two indicted fugitives of American justice, narco-terrorist Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores,” his wife.
“As Secretary Rubio has said, there is no war against Venezuela or its people. We are not occupying a country,” Waltz said.
He added, nonetheless, that “you cannot continue to have the largest energy reserves in the world under the control of adversaries of the United States.”
The UK, a US ally, called during the meeting for a “safe and peaceful transition to a legitimate government,” with its acting UN representative, James Kariuki, saying Venezuelans “deserve a government which reflects their vote at the ballot box.”
Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez smiles after a session of the National Assembly in Caracas on January 5, 2026. (Federico PARRA / AFP)
The CIA assessment, however, said otherwise, according to Reuters, recommending Rodriguez stay at the helm in Caracas. Shots were fired late Monday near Venezuela’s presidential palace, witnesses said.
Trump was briefed on the CIA report, and it was shared with a small group from his senior national security team, the sources said. The document was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The assessment was one reason why Trump decided to back Rodriguez instead of Machado, the sources said. The White House declined to confirm the report.
“President Trump is routinely briefed on domestic political dynamics all over the world. The president and his national security team are making realistic decisions to finally ensure Venezuela aligns with the interests of the United States, and becomes a better country for the Venezuelan people,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to a query.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado smiles as she addresses a press conference at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Norway, on December 11, 2025. (Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
Machado said on Monday she hasn’t spoken to Trump since October 2025, when she won the Nobel Peace Prize, which he has long sought.
“Actually, I spoke with President Trump on October 10, the same day the Prize was announced, [but] not since then,” Machado said on Fox News’ “Hannity” program.
She was awarded the prize for her fight against what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called a dictatorship.
Machado — widely seen as Maduro’s most credible opponent — left Venezuela last month to travel to Norway to accept the award, and hasn’t returned since.
“I’m planning to go as soon as possible back home,” she told Fox News when asked about her plans to return to Venezuela.
The interview was Machado’s first since the raid. She welcomed the US actions as “a huge step for humanity, for freedom and human dignity.”
