President Trump said Sunday night that the U.S. is "in charge" of Venezuela, renewing questions around the United States' involvement in the country following the stunning weekend operation to remove its leader.
Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is expected to appear in court in New York today to face narco-terrorism charges after being captured by U.S. forces in a sprawling predawn raid in Caracas early Saturday.
U.S. troops detained Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, following months of mounting tensions between Washington and Caracas, with Trump threatening Maduro and suggesting his days in power were "numbered."
Trump on Saturday raised eyebrows by declaring the U.S. would "run" Venezuela following Maduro's ouster, with the administration backing the country's second in command until new elections are held.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to walk that back Sunday, saying the U.S. wouldn't govern the country and would only enforce an oil embargo. But Trump reiterated Sunday night that the U.S. is "in charge."
Lawmakers in both parties who are returning to Washington this week following the holiday recess are anxious for answers on Trump's plan.
Here are the top questions surrounding what comes next.
Will this require a long-term U.S. presence?
Members of both parties have praised Maduro's removal from power, even as Democrats and some Republicans have blasted the way it happened.
Trump's insistence that the U.S. will run Venezuela — or get further involved if the country's acting president doesn't play ball — has left many questioning if a long-term presence, or even troop deployments, will be required.
"We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," Trump said at a press conference Saturday at Mar-a-Lago.
But Rubio, in a flurry of Sunday morning TV appearances, signaled the U.S. wasn't planning to occupy Venezuela but use its ongoing oil quarantine of sanctioned tankers as leverage.
"And so that's the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that," Rubio said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "We continue with that quarantine, and we expect to see that there will be changes, not just in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also so that they stop the drug trafficking."
A White House official told The New York Times that Trump and Rubio's comments were consistent, with Rubio describing what Trump had meant.
But Trump later Sunday reiterated to NewsNation's Libbey Dean during a gaggle aboard Air Force One that "we're in charge" of Venezuela.
"We're going to run it, fix it. We'll have elections at the right time," he added.
That came hours after the president threatened Venezuela's new leader, acting President Delcy Rodríguez, telling The Atlantic that she will "pay a very big price" if she doesn't "do what's right."
He had previously said Saturday that Rubio spoke with Rodríguez and she was willing to "do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again."
Rodríguez firmly denounced the administration's action on Saturday, calling on the U.S. to release Maduro and declaring that he's the only legitimate Venezuelan president.
But she offered a more conciliatory tone in a statement Sunday night, inviting Trump to "collaborate" going forward.
"We prioritise moving towards balanced and respectful international relations between the United States and Venezuela, and between Venezuela and other countries in the region, premised on sovereign equality and non-interference," she said in a post on Instagram. "These principles guide our diplomacy with the rest of the world."
▪ The Hill: Rubio says 'team effort' is 'running' Venezuela.
What will this mean for MAGA?
The reaction to the administration's actions have mostly been split along partisan lines, with Republicans largely backing Trump for taking out an authoritarian adversary and Democrats condemning it for going forward without congressional authorization and possibly setting a worrisome international precedent.
Many in Trump's base have released statements supporting Maduro's capture, with those on the outs with Trump, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), as the exceptions. But what comes next will be key in determining whether their support remains.
Trump first ran for president in 2016 railing against the war in Iraq and other "forever wars" that bogged down the U.S. Now, Greene argues the Venezuela operation goes against the principles Trump campaigned on.
Rubio rejected comparisons to Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, but Trump has refused to rule out sending in troops.
"I understand the anxiety over the use of military force, but are we just supposed to allow a communist to steal our stuff in our hemisphere and do nothing? Great powers don't act like that," Vice President Vance posted on X, noting Venezuela "expropriated American oil" years ago.
Vance also pushed back against criticism that operations in Venezuela are not targeting fentanyl, which the administration has prioritized tackling, and instead mostly affecting cocaine trade. The vice president said that cocaine is still a "profit center" for Latin American cartels.
The level of involvement for the U.S. in Venezuela going forward may determine if more cracks form within the MAGA base.
▪ The Hill: Maduro capture adds to combative year for Hegseth.
How will this affect upcoming battles in Congress?
Congress already has a busy schedule coming back to Washington this week, and the Venezuela developments have only piled onto that.
The administration plans to brief lawmakers Monday after they return, but the scope of those briefings remains unclear. Democrats have cried foul over the substance of past briefings on the boat strikes in the Caribbean, and those complaints have intensified as they said officials told them the administration wasn't pursuing regime change in Venezuela.
The Senate is set to vote this week on a war powers resolution to block Trump from continuing military action in Venezuela. The resolution only needs a simple majority to pass.
The situation adds another dimension to Congress's agenda in the first few weeks of the year. A vote on extending the expired Affordable Care Act subsidies will come up in the House and will likely be sent to the Senate, while government funding is slated to run out at the end of the month.
All of these issues may be interconnected in a quick start to 2026 for Congress.
▪ NBC News: Inside Maduro's capture.
How does the legal case against Maduro proceed?
Maduro faces significant charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life if convicted, but much of the evidence alleging his ties to terrorist and drug trafficking groups is unclear.
The four-count indictment accuses Maduro of using his power to protect and promote criminal conduct including terrorism and drug trafficking to benefit himself and his allies. He's been charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machineguns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machineguns and destructive devices.
But in some cases, the indictment provides few details about the connections between Maduro and these groups. Questions also linger about the Trump administration's authority to detain the leader of another country.
▪ The Washington Post: The history of the U.S.-Venezuela relationship.
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