{"id":195845,"date":"2026-01-06T03:54:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T03:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-says-u-s-is-in-charge-of-venezuela-and-warns-interim-leader-to-cooperate-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T03:54:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T03:54:48","slug":"trump-says-u-s-is-in-charge-of-venezuela-and-warns-interim-leader-to-cooperate-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-says-u-s-is-in-charge-of-venezuela-and-warns-interim-leader-to-cooperate-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says U.S. is 'in charge' of Venezuela and warns interim leader to cooperate – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump stated late Sunday that “we’re in charge” of Venezuela, while warning its interim leader Delcy Rodr\u00edguez that she will fare “probably worse” than captured President Nicolas Maduro if she does not cooperate.
It was his latest threat to Rodr\u00edguez, the former vice president, who struck a more diplomatic tone as she extended an invitation to work with the U.S. \u201con an agenda of cooperation\u201d and \u201cwithin the framework of international law.\u201d
Trump threatened military action against Colombia, drawing backlash from its president, but said there were no plans for immediate intervention in Cuba<\/a>, predicting its government was “just going to fall.” He again outlined his desire to take over Greenland, drawing widespread pushback including from NATO ally Denmark, which governs the Arctic island nation.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump fleshed out his vision for Venezuela after the American attack, saying he would allow oil companies access to its world’s-largest reserves so they could reclaim oil he claims has been stolen.
\u201cWe\u2019re going to take our oil back,\u201d he said during a 40 minute talk with reporters.
On when elections might be held, he said “Well we’re going to run everything. We’re going to run it, fix it. We’ll have elections at the right time.”
Asked who was currently in charge of Venezuela, Trump said, “We’re dealing with the people. We’re dealing with the people that just got sworn in. And don’t ask me who’s in charge, because I’ll give you an answer, and it’ll be very controversial.”
Pressed on what that meant, he added, “It means we’re in charge.”
Follow live updates<\/strong><\/em><\/a>
Venezuela’s supreme court declared<\/a> Rodr\u00edguez would immediately assume the leadership after U.S. forces captured Maduro and <\/strong>brought him to New York, where he will appear in court Monday on narco-terrorism charges.
Trump said he had not spoken with Rodriguez “but other people have” and that “she’s cooperating.”
He earlier told The Atlantic<\/a> that \u201cif she doesn\u2019t do what\u2019s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.\u201d He reiterated this aboard Air Force One.
“I just say that she will face a situation probably worse than Maduro. Because, you know, Maduro gave up immediately,” he said. “He gave up, and he did the right thing, but he gave up. So we were actually… we were so effective. And it was so fast and violent. It was very violent, but we were so effective. He raised his hands, he gave up.”
Trump said Saturday that Rodr\u00edguez had a \u201cgracious\u201d conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. \u201cShe said, \u2018We\u2019ll do whatever you need,\u2019\u201d he said, \u201cBut she really doesn\u2019t have a choice. We\u2019re going to have this done right.\u201d
Later on Saturday, though, Rodr\u00edguez said Maduro was \u201cthe only president of Venezuela\u201d and called for his \u201cimmediate liberation.\u201d
Trump said he would be asking Rodr\u00edguez to give \u201ctotal access\u201d to oil companies.
Oil prices swung Sunday evening, as investors and traders weighed the market forces that could be unleashed by Trump\u2019s attack and his comments about what could be next for Venezuela and its massive oil reserves.
Trump claims that Venezuela “stole” U.S. oil because of the role American companies played in developing the country’s petroleum industry in the early 1900s. Later in the 20th century, Venezuela then nationalized the industry and vastly reduced production.
“The country is a mess. It’s been horribly run. The oil is just flowing at a very low level,” Trump said. “So we’re going to have the big oil companies go in, and they’re going to fix the infrastructure. They’re going to invest money. We’re not going to invest anything. We’re going to just take care of the country. We’re going to cherish the country. We’re going to take care, more importantly, of the people, including Venezuelans.”
And asked if he had reversed his previous opposition to nation-building, he added, “We’re in the business of having countries around us that are viable and successful, and where the oil is allowed to freely come out, because that’s good, it gets the prices down. That’s good for our country.”
He also hinted at the possibility of future strikes, saying the U.S. is \u201cready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to.\u201d
In a Spanish-language statement, Rodr\u00edguez wrote, “President Donald Trump: Our people and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war. That has always been President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s position, and it is the position of all of Venezuela at this moment.”
“That is the Venezuela I believe in and have dedicated my life to. My dream is for Venezuela to be a great power where all good Venezuelans can come together,” she added.
Megan Lebowitz reported from Washington, and Alexander Smith from London.<\/em>
Megan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Alexander Smith is a senior reporter for\u00a0NBC News Digital based in London.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeWASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump stated late Sunday that “we’re in charge” of Venezuela, while warning its interim leader Delcy Rodr\u00edguez that she will fare “probably worse” than captured President Nicolas Maduro if she does not cooperate.It was his latest threat to Rodr\u00edguez, the former vice president, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}