When Nicolás Maduro was removed from power by the United States, many in Washington expected the U.S. to rally behind Venezuela’s most prominent opposition leader.

Instead, the Trump administration moved to engage a longtime Maduro loyalist, signaling a transition strategy driven less by democratic symbolism than by concerns over stability on the ground.

The approach sidelined María Corina Machado, the opposition leader who claims the strongest popular mandate and international profile, while elevating Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president and a central figure in the outgoing regime.

Administration officials and outside analysts say the shift reflects a calculated effort to avoid a power vacuum and maintain control during a fragile transition, even as it complicates Washington’s longstanding support for Venezuela’s democratic opposition. 

And President Donald Trump is betting Rodríguez now lives in fear of what might happen to her if she defies the U.S. 

Trump, describing his phone call with Rodríguez, said she offered: ‘We’ll do whatever you need.’

‘I think she was quite gracious,’ he said. 

But in a separate interview with The Atlantic he warned: ‘If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.’

Following Maduro’s removal, Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president after the Supreme Court ruled she should assume power in his absence. 

Under Venezuela’s constitution, the vice president can serve on an interim basis while the country determines whether and when new elections will be held. While the constitution generally calls for elections within 30 days if a president is permanently unable to serve, authorities have so far described Maduro’s removal as temporary, allowing Rodríguez to remain in office as the timeline for a political transition is debated.

A classified CIA intelligence assessment examined who would be best positioned to lead a temporary government in Caracas, Venezuela, and maintain short-term stability, a source familiar with the intelligence told Fox News Digital. The report, requested by senior policymakers and presented to Trump, aimed to offer the president ‘comprehensive and objective analysis’ on possible scenarios after Maduro’s capture.

A source familiar with the assessment told Fox News Digital that the assessment attempted to analyze the domestic situation in Venezuela, but did not describe how Maduro could lose power or advocate for his removal.

Trump senior policymakers requested the assessment — specifically one that addressed who would be best able to stabilize Venezuela ‘immediately’ following a Maduro removal. 

‘There was sentiment among senior officials that Machado lacked the necessary support in Venezuela if Maduro was to be removed,’ the source familiar told Fox News Digital. 

One of the reasons for that, the source told Fox News Digital, was because Machado was not in Venezuela, though she has vowed to return. 

The report found Rodríguez would be best positioned to lead a temporary government in Caracas, Venezuela, and Gonzalez and Machado would struggle to gain support from security services. 

While Machado has been widely embraced by Western governments and democracy advocates, U.S. officials and analysts say that support has not translated into leverage over Venezuela’s military or security services.

Trump’s skepticism also has been shaped by frustration from his first term, when international backing and opposition momentum failed to produce a transfer of power.

‘Machado has an inherent problem from the get-go,’ said Pedro Garmendia, a Venezuela expert and Washington-based geopolitical risk analyst. ‘She doesn’t control troops or hold any sort of power in Venezuela.’

At the same time, ‘Rodríguez is an ideologue,’ he said. ‘In the long term, the Trump administration might find itself having trouble reining her in.’

Trump has been more blunt in explaining why the administration has not rallied behind Machado. Speaking after the operation that removed Maduro from power, Trump questioned whether she could lead Venezuela in a transition, saying she lacked sufficient support inside the country. 

‘I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader,’ Trump said. ‘She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.’

A Washington Post report had claimed that Trump was upset Machado accepted this year’s Nobel Peace Prize — an award he coveted and that she dedicated to him. But the White House insisted Trump’s actions were the result of internal briefings.

‘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,’ said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

Rubio has sought to frame the decision as mission-driven rather than personal, pointing to past U.S. interventions as cautionary examples. 

‘I have tremendous admiration for María Corina Machado. I have admiration for Edmundo,’ Rubio said Sunday on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’ ‘But there’s the mission that we are on right now. … A lot of people analyze everything that happens in foreign policy through the lens of Iraq, Libya, or Afghanistan. This is not the Middle East. This is the Western Hemisphere, and our mission here is very different.’

The administration’s caution also is shaped by a long history of U.S. intervention in Latin America, where American-backed coups and political engineering have left deep skepticism toward Washington’s motives. Installing an opposition leader immediately after a U.S. military operation, analysts warn, could revive those suspicions and undermine any transition before it begins.

‘If they were to bring María Machado and presumably Edmundo González back to the country and install them as president, it would look a lot like the United States installing a new president,’ said Eric O’Neill, a former FBI counterintelligence operative. ‘That would actually cause civil unrest.’

‘Venezuelans are proud people, and they need to elect their next president,’ O’Neill added.

But Garmendia said Rodríguez is ‘just as illegitimate as Maduro was — and probably even less popular.’ 

He said Rodríguez lacks the charisma and mass appeal that traditionally have sustained Venezuela’s ruling movement, and that her authority rests largely on internal bargaining and elite control rather than public support.

In the interim, locals have reports of armed gangs patrolling the streets. Venezuelan authorities have detained at least 14 journalists since Maduro’s capture, according to the union representing Venezuelan reporters. 

‘There’s going to be a lot of instability in the next couple of weeks,’ Garmendia said.

The U.K. and France signed a declaration Tuesday pledging troops for Ukraine under a future peace deal and with security guarantees supported by the U.S. and allied partners.

The declaration was adopted in Paris by the Coalition of the Willing and sets out what leaders said was a framework for lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia, set in international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, triggered Europe’s largest conflict since World War II.

The new agreement says that Ukraine’s sovereignty and its ability to defend itself are non-negotiable elements of any peace deal and warned that its self-defense is essential to its own security and wider Euro-Atlantic stability.

Under the plan, a multinational force for Ukraine would be deployed once a ceasefire is in place, aimed at deterring any Russian aggression and supporting the rebuilding of Ukraine’s military.

The force would be European-led with proposed support from the U.S.

The declaration also commits the Coalition to security guarantees that would be activated once a ceasefire begins.

These include commitments to support Ukraine militarily, diplomatically and economically in the event of a future armed attack by Russia.

A key U.S. role is outlined in plans for a continuous, U.S.-led ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism, with contributions from partners.

The U.S. would participate in a special commission to manage ceasefire breaches, attribute responsibility and determine solutions.

Coalition members also agreed to carry on with long-term military support for Ukraine and pledged defense cooperation, including training, defense production and intelligence sharing.

Leaders also announced the creation of a permanent U.S.-Ukraine-Coalition coordination cell based at the Coalition’s headquarters in Paris.

The declaration was unveiled at a joint news conference by French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

This followed talks in Paris which were attended by Jared Kushner and the U.S. special envoy, Steve Witkoff.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., will accuse top Minnesota government officials of being ‘asleep at the wheel’ at the start of his panel’s high-profile hearing into alleged fraud.

In Comer’s opening statement, obtained by Fox News Digital, he is expected to question whether ‘Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minnesota’s Democratic leadership’ were negligent or ‘complicit’ in the growing scandal.

‘Minnesota’s social services — which are funded by you, the American taxpayer — are being ripped off. The most vulnerable are suffering as a result,’ Comer will say, according to his prepared remarks. 

‘The fraudsters — many of whom are from Minnesota’s Somali community — have stolen from programs meant to feed needy kids, provide services to autistic children, house low-income and disabled Americans, and provide healthcare to vulnerable Medicaid recipients.’

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have charged multiple people with stealing more than $240 million from the Federal Child Nutrition Program through the Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future.

However, the probe has since widened to multiple state-run programs being investigated for potential fraud. Childcare providers receiving state funding, mainly within the Somali community, are also under scrutiny.

U.S. attorneys have alleged that billions more dollars could have fallen prey to fraud in the state, something Walz has pushed back on while accusing Republicans of politicizing the scandal.

‘Fraudsters like these take millions to enrich themselves while providing nothing, overstating, or outright faking the services. How many children have gone hungry because fraudsters stole money that was intended to provide them with food?’ Comer will say.

‘How many autistic children were denied services because fraudsters instead sent this money overseas? How many low-income seniors, people with disabilities, or those with mental illnesses were denied access to housing because fraudsters drained resources and pocketed the money for themselves?’

Comer will argue in his statement that the revelations so far are ‘just the tip of the iceberg.’

The Wednesday hearing, which kicks off at 10 a.m. ET, will feature testimony from three Republicans in the state legislature.

Comer summoned Walz and Ellison for a follow-up hearing on Feb. 10, but it’s not yet clear if they will attend.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., will also take part in Wednesday’s hearing, Fox News Digital was told. Emmer is a longtime critic of Walz’s administration and represents a district that’s home to two out of three of the hearing’s GOP witnesses.

A bipartisan group of senators is still working on a fix for the now-expired Obamacare subsidies and believe that they may be nearing a proposal that could hit the Senate floor.

The confab, which met a handful of times during Congress’ holiday break, adjourned once more behind closed doors on Monday night. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, are leading the talks among several Senate Republicans and Democrats looking for a compromise solution.

Most who attended the meeting were tight-lipped on specifics of the still-simmering proposal, but Collins noted the plan was similar to the initial offering from her and Moreno.

‘Parts of the bill are similar to what Senator Moreno and I proposed originally, with a two-year extension, with some reforms in the first year and then more substantial reforms in the second year,’ she said.

Their original plan — one of several floating around in the upper chamber — would have extended the subsidies by two years, put an income cap onto the credits for households making up to $200,000 and eliminated zero-cost premiums as a fraud preventive measure by requiring a $25 minimum monthly payment.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., one of the lawmakers who has routinely attended the meetings, said the talks were going well.

‘We had a really good discussion last night,’ Kaine said. ‘I don’t want to characterize it other than we had a really good discussion.’

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he had gotten an update on negotiations from Moreno Tuesday morning and believed that the bipartisan huddles had been productive.

Still, any plan that hits the floor has to hit several benchmarks for Republicans, including antifraud guardrails, a transition into health savings accounts (HSAs) and more stringent anti-abortion language.

‘The keys are reforms, obviously, and then how do you navigate [the Hyde Amendment],’ Thune said. ‘I think that’s probably the most challenging part of this. But again, I think there’s potentially a path forward, but it’s something that has to get a big vote, certainly a big vote.’

The Hyde Amendment issue is a barrier for both sides of the aisle, given that Senate Republicans demand that changes be made to the subsidies, and more broadly Obamacare, to prevent any taxpayer dollars from funding abortions.

That debate received a wrinkle Tuesday when President Donald Trump told House Republicans ‘you have to be a little flexible’ when it comes to the Hyde Amendment.

That triggered mixed reactions from Republicans in the upper chamber.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said that he had ‘no idea the context’ of Trump’s remarks but affirmed that he was ardently against funding abortions.

‘I’m saying I’m not flexible in the value of human life,’ Lankford said. ‘Life is valuable. I don’t believe some children are disposable, and some children are valuable. I think all children are valuable.’

Senate Democrats largely viewed Trump’s comments as a sign of progress — that maybe Republicans would budge on the Hyde issue. But flexibility goes both ways, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, wasn’t ready to budge on the matter.

‘I am not going to open the door to Hyde, given what happens and what has been seen historically when you do that,’ he said. ‘If you open the door, it will get drafty in a hurry, and I’m not going to let it happen.’

Moreno signaled that Republicans might have to make a compromise on the issue if they wanted to move ahead with any kind of healthcare fix that could pass muster in the Senate.

He noted that there was a sense that ‘maybe the Obamacare language wasn’t as adherent to that philosophy [of Hyde] as it should be.’

‘But that’s not something that we’re looking — able to change right now,’ he said. ‘Because, quite frankly, if you put Hyde up to a vote among Democrats today, as opposed to Democrats 20 years ago, it would probably fail 46 to one on the Democrat side. So unfortunately, most Democrats today feel that there should be federal funding for abortion.’

‘Are You Not Entertained?’ With the country’s economy improving and other issues losing traction with the public, Democrats are increasingly turning to the one thing lacking in Washington: impeachment.

As they work to take back the House in the midterms, Democrats are again promising voters the equivalent of the Roman Games by restarting impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. For many liberal voters, impeachment has become the thrilling cage match of lawfare.

Facing a challenger on the left in New York, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., was the latest to dangle impeachment before his constituents. He insisted that Trump can be removed for the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

The same people who introduced what I called an abusive ‘snap impeachment’ against Trump are now suggesting that he can be impeached for an act that was previously upheld as lawful in the courts.

According to Goldman, the operation constitutes an undeclared war and is thus impeachable.

The professed shock over the operation is nothing short of comical from leaders who said nothing when Democratic presidents engaged in similar actions.

There were no widespread calls for impeachment when President Bill Clinton attacked Bosnia or President Barack Obama attacked Libya. In the latter case, I represented several members of Congress to challenge the undeclared war in Libya. Obama, like Trump, dismissed any need to get congressional approval before attacking the capital city of a foreign nation and military sites to force regime change. Figures like then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were lionized for their tough action in Libya.

Democratic members have combined a lack of memory with an equally startling lack of knowledge. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., declared on national television that ‘the Constitution does not give the president the right to initiate military action.’ It is, of course, entirely untrue.

Presidents cannot declare war under the Constitution, but they can certainly order the use of military forces without such a declaration. Kaine did not appear aggrieved when Democratic presidents repeatedly and routinely attacked foreign targets without prior congressional consultation, let alone approval. That includes President Barack Obama killing an American citizen who was not charged with any crime in a drone attack under his ‘kill list’ policy.

Moreover, some House and Senate Democrats have stated that they either support or do not object to the capture.

I have long opposed undeclared wars and such unilateral actions. However, as a legal analyst, I am asked whether a president has the legal authority under governing case law to carry out such operations. Trump has that authority. We lost the Libyan case, and other challenges to such unilateral action have also failed.

This includes the litigation surrounding the capture and prosecution of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. That also involved an attack on a foreign country. Indeed, it was a larger military operation that took days on the ground to capture Noriega, followed by regime change.

Noriega raised the same international and U.S. authorities being cited today by pundits and lost across the board. In appeals that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Noriega lost on his head-of-state immunity and other claims.

If there are grounds for such claims, Maduro is even less credible in making them. Roughly 50 countries refused to recognize him as the head of Venezuela after he lost the last election and seized control of the country. While he proclaimed in court this week that ‘I am still president of my country,’ he has about the same claim to that office as Rep. Goldman.

There are good-faith objections to such military attacks on foreign countries under international law. This is a claim that other nations, such as China or Russia, could use to justify their own actions. However, this is a matter that will be resolved under U.S. law. While Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum declared that the action violated Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, it will be Article II of the U.S. Constitution that will dictate the outcome of this case.

Now, back to the impeachment games.

Goldman and others are suggesting that they will impeach President Trump for a capture that is virtually identical to the one involving Noriega and was declared lawful by the courts. Even putting aside the criminal prosecution, they would impeach him for attacks that are legally no different from those carried out by a long list of presidents, including Democratic presidents over the last two decades.

Neither history nor the Constitution matters in the impeachment games.

In the movie ‘Gladiator,’ Emperor Commodus noted to the game organizer that the recreation of the Battle of Carthage seemed to get the conclusion wrong when the barbarians won: ‘My history’s a little hazy, Cassius, but shouldn’t the barbarians lose the Battle of Carthage?’ He then said that it did not matter. After all, these are the games, and ‘I rather enjoy surprises.’

The impulsive use of impeachment is about good entertainment, not good government. For politicians fighting to stay in power like Goldman, a flash impeachment is the same call to the mob. 

To paraphrase Senator Gracchus from the movie, ‘I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they’ll be distracted. … The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate, it’s the sand of the Colosseum. He’ll bring them [impeachments], and they will love him for it.’

The death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., has shrunk the Republican majority in the House of Representatives to the minimum of 218 seats, presenting fresh challenges for Speaker Mike Johnson as the party heads into an election year.

LaMalfa, 65, died suddenly on Tuesday during an emergency surgery. He was a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and a reliable vote for Johnson’s priorities. His death means Johnson can only lose two Republican votes and still pass legislation along party lines.

Trump rallied behind Johnson during a retreat for House GOP lawmakers at the Trump-Kennedy Center on Tuesday.

‘A lot of times they’ll say, ‘I wish Mike were tougher,’’ Trump told assembled Republicans. ‘He’s tough. He’s tough as anybody in the room, actually. But can’t be tough when you have a majority of three, and now sadly, a little bit less than that.’

LaMalfa’s death landed on the same day that Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation went into effect. The now-former Georgia congresswoman’s seat won’t be filled until a March 10 special election. Meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is required by state law to hold an election for LaMalfa’s seat within the next two weeks.

Democrats are also poised to refill their ranks in the coming weeks, however. Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Texas, died in March and an election to fill his seat is scheduled for the end of January. Likewise, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., was elected governor of her state in November. Her seat is set to be filled in a special election in April.

Trump dedicated his Tuesday address to LaMalfa, saying he had considered canceling the speech to Republican lawmakers.

‘I spoke to Doug, but I didn’t speak to him, you know? I mean, we never had a problem. I was really saddened by his passing and was thinking about not even doing the speech in his honor,’ Trump said. ‘But then I decided that I have to do it in his honor. I’ll do it in his honor because he would’ve wanted it that way.’

‘He would’ve said, ‘Do that speech! Are you kidding me? Do the speech,” he continued. ‘He was a fantastic person. Man, that was a quick one. I don’t know quite yet what happened, but boy is that a tough one. He was just with us. He was our friend. All of us, every one of us.’

LaMalfa was known as a champion of conservative causes as well as a kind man to both reporters and his fellow House lawmakers.

The congressman represented the 1st Congressional District in Northern California and was chair of the Congressional Western Caucus.

House Freedom Caucus leaders are drawing battle lines as lawmakers return to Capitol Hill for the second half of the 119th Congress.

The conservative group’s board of directors is sending a seven-page letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., outlining proposed policy goals on a vast array of topics from American elections, to immigration, to federal spending, taking on ‘rogue’ judges, and housing affordability.

It comes ahead of a policy forum that Johnson is hosting on Tuesday to lay out the House GOP’s agenda for 2026. Republicans are expected to huddle from 9:30 am to 6 pm at the Trump Kennedy Center, where they’ll hear from committee leaders and President Donald Trump.

Trump’s remarks are expected to rally Republicans around passing their legislative goals for the year, but several people told Fox News Digital they also anticipate him focusing heavily on the U.S. government’s recent operation in Venezuela.

The first policy goal listed by the Freedom Caucus is forcing the Senate to take up the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which passed the House early last year.

They’re also calling on Congress to pass legislation limiting early voting and reforming the census to only count American citizens.

On fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations, conservatives are calling on the House to ‘reduce or — at bare minimum keep flat total federal discretionary spending levels’ according to the document first obtained by Fox News Digital.

The recently released $174 billion spending bill that the House is expected to vote on this week would reduce current funding levels for the agencies it covers if were to pass.

Congress has yet to release information on six of its 12 remaining spending bills, however, while lawmakers face a Jan. 30 deadline to avert a government shutdown.

The Freedom Caucus is also urging Congress to crack down on the recent fraud scandal taking over Minnesota’s social programs by eliminating ‘all programs exposed as rampant with fraud and place punitive measures on states such as Minnesota that have allowed rampant fraud.’

‘Federal prosecutors have estimated that widespread fraud in Minnesota tied to Somali day care centers, COVID-era meal programs, housing, and special needs assistance programs alone could exceed $9 billion,’ the document said. ‘These revelations are startling, but just a drop in the bucket for a federal government that’s estimated to lose between $233 and $521 billion annually to fraud, according to government watchdog agencies.’

The document called for the denaturalization and deportation of ‘anyone who has committed fraud against the American taxpayer,’ specifically naming Minnesota’s Somali community, though doing so would likely require court intervention.

Conservatives’ policy roadmap also called on Congress to ‘freeze all immigration to the U.S., except for (very) temporary tourist visas’ for a temporary amount of time in order to revamp the U.S. immigration system as a whole.

In a section called ‘Stop Rogue, Activist Judges,’ the House Freedom Caucus urged the House to move forward on impeaching U.S. federal Judge James Boasberg ‘such as Judge Deborah Boardman, for reducing the sentence of a man who plotted and took steps to kill a Supreme Court Justice due to her indefensible views about transgenderism.’

An earlier push by conservatives to impeach Boasberg failed to gain traction among the wider House GOP conference, though the chamber passed ‘The No Rogue Rulings Act’ to limit the ability of district judges like Boasberg to issue nationwide injunctions.

The policy roadmap also called to radically shift America’s global priorities by completely removing the U.S. from the United Nations and halting all funding to the international body.

‘The UN is openly hostile to the United States, yet we remain its biggest source of funding. President Trump has significantly reduced wasteful spending on dangerous UN entities like UNRWA, and now Congress should go even further by enacting legislation such as H.R. 1498, the DEFUND Act, to completely withdraw the United States from the United Nations (UN) and end all funding and participation,’ the passage read.

Another section calls for banning stock trading for members of Congress, which Johnson said he would be in favor of last year.

The push to ban stock trading has gained rare bipartisan support among both Republicans and Democrats, but no such bill has yet seen a House floor vote.

Banning Sharia Law in the U.S. is also listed as one of the group’s policy goals, an effort that’s been led by Texas-based Freedom Caucus members like Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Keith Self, R-Texas, so far this Congress.

While it was founded as a group that was frequently adversarial to Republican leaders for not being conservative enough, the House Freedom Caucus has gradually gained influence within the House GOP during the 119th Congress.

Its chairman, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., has frequently stood alongside Johnson in his push for conservative legislative goals.

Johnson notably spoke at the group’s 10th anniversary celebration late last year. Harris and Roy also made a public show of unity alongside House GOP leaders during the recent government shutdown.

Republicans are going into this year, however, grappling with a razor-thin House majority and what’s expected to be a tough November election cycle.

A select group of lawmakers received their first closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill on Monday following the Trump administration’s weekend military strikes in Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro — a meeting that quickly divided along political lines.

The roughly two-hour meeting deep in the bowels of Congress featured top administration officials providing a classified briefing to congressional leaders and the chairs and ranking members of the armed services, intelligence and foreign relations committees. 

None of the Trump officials, who included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan ‘Raizin’ Caine and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, spoke after the meeting. 

But a handful of lawmakers did, and questions still lingered about what exactly would come next for U.S. involvement in the country, if other similar operations would be carried out across the globe, and who exactly was running Venezuela.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said that there was no expectation that the U.S. would be on the ground, nor would there be any ‘direct involvement in any other way beyond just coercing the interim government to to get that going.’

‘We are not at war,’ Johnson said. ‘We do not have U.S. armed forces in Venezuela, and we are not occupying that country.’

‘This is not a regime change,’ he continued. ‘This is a demand for change of behavior by a regime. The interim government is stood up now, and we are hopeful that they will be able to correct their action.’

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast, R-Fl., echoed Johnson, and reiterated that the operation was a ‘specific law enforcement function that took place that took a significant obstacle out of the way for the Venezuelan people to go chart a new future.’ 

He didn’t expect further military action from the Trump administration in the country, either. 

‘These things are done before breakfast,’ Mast said. ‘They don’t do protracted war operations.’

However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., countered that the lengthy meeting ‘posed far more questions than it ever answered.’ 

One growing point of contention among lawmakers is just how directly involved the U.S. will be, given that Trump said that the U.S. would govern the country until a proper transition of power happened. 

Schumer said that the plan presented behind closed doors or the U.S. running Venezuela ‘is vague, based on wishful thinking and unsatisfying.’

‘I did not receive any assurances that we would not try to do the same thing in other countries,’ he said. ‘And in conclusion, when the United States engages in this kind of regime change and so called nation building, it always ends up hurting the United States. I left the briefing feeling that it would again.’

Schumer, along with Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., plan to force a vote later in the week on a war powers resolution that, if passed, would require the administration to get congressional approval before taking further military action in Venezuela. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he was satisfied with the briefing and that ‘it was a very comprehensive discussion.’

Lawmakers will get another bite at the apple later in the week when Trump officials again return to Congress to provide a full briefing to lawmakers on Operation Absolute Resolve. 

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, lauded the military for a ‘brilliant execution’ of the mission, and noted that the region was better off without Maduro.

But, like Schumer, he was still searching for the next step. 

‘The question becomes, as policymakers, what happens the day after,’ Warner said. 

A deepening political realignment across Latin America came into focus over the weekend at a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, and sharpened further Monday at the United Nations Security Council, where governments publicly split over the U.S. role in the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.

At CELAC, several leftist governments attempted to push through a joint statement condemning Maduro’s detention. The effort failed after a bloc of countries consisting of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago blocked consensus, preventing the regional body from issuing a unified defense of the Venezuelan leader, Merco Press agency reported.

The breakdown exposed growing fractures within what has long been a left-leaning regional forum and underscored the erosion of automatic solidarity with Caracas.

Melissa Ford Maldonado, director of the Western Hemisphere Initiative at the America First Policy Institute, said the fractures reflect a broader regional reckoning with the consequences of socialist and narco-authoritarian rule.

‘We are witnessing a regional awakening across Latin America,’ Maldonado told Fox News Digital. ‘The failure of socialism, communism and narco-authoritarian rule has become impossible to ignore.’

The shift is increasingly visible at the ballot box, where voters in several countries — last month alone in Chile and Honduras — have moved away from entrenched left-wing governments and toward right-of-center leaders campaigning on themes of security, sovereignty, border control and law and order — messages that echo aspects of President Donald Trump’s political approach in the United States.

‘The developments at CELAC this weekend reflect that reality,’ Maldonado said. ‘The fact that several governments blocked a collective defense of Nicolás Maduro shows how divided the authoritarian left has become. Venezuela has become a cautionary tale.’

That division carried over into the Security Council on Monday, where Latin American and Caribbean states took sharply different positions, with some openly backing Washington and others denouncing the U.S. action as a violation of international law.

Argentina emerged as the most forceful regional supporter of the United States, praising President Donald Trump and framing Maduro’s capture as a decisive blow against organized crime.

‘The Government of the Argentine Republic values the decision and determination demonstrated by the President of the United States of America and his government, and the recent actions taken in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro, leader of the Cartel of the Suns,’ Argentina’s representative Francisco Fabián Tropepi told the council, adding the Maduro regime ‘has not only constituted a direct threat to the citizens systematic violation of human rights in the state appropriation of the country’s resources and destruction of democratic institutions, but also to the entire region by leading and exploiting its networks of drug trafficking and organized crime.’

Paraguay echoed that framing, claiming Maduro’s continued presence ‘was a threat to the region,’ adding that ‘the removal of the leader of a terrorist organization should immediately lead to the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela, making it possible for the will of the people, expressed at the ballot box, to become the foundation for the country’s reconstruction,’ its representative Marcelo Eliseo Scappini Ricciardi said.

Other CELAC members took the opposite view, condemning the U.S. action and warning that it set a dangerous precedent.

Brazil ‘categorically and firmly’ rejected what it called armed intervention on Venezuelan territory, describing the capture of Maduro as ‘a very serious affront to the sovereignty of Venezuela and an extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community.’ 

Mexico denounced the operation as a violation of the U.N. Charter, arguing that external efforts to impose political change historically worsen conflicts and destabilize societies. Chile also condemned what it called unilateral military action and warned against foreign interference, while Cuba and Nicaragua delivered blistering denunciations of Washington, accusing the United States of imperial aggression and calling for Maduro’s immediate release.

The split at the U.N. mirrored the breakdown at CELAC, where governments increasingly appear unwilling to speak with one voice on Venezuela, even as they stop short of endorsing U.S. military force.

According to Maldonado, ‘Governments are increasingly forced to choose between defending failed autocracies, corruption and repression or responding to their own citizens,’ she said. ‘More governments are unwilling to carry that burden.’

Maldonado described Maduro’s capture as a break with decades of U.S. restraint in the region, ‘It shows that the United States is deadly serious about defending itself and the hemisphere, about stopping the flow of drugs, dismantling cartel-state alliances and about fighting back against the influence of China, Russia and Iran in our neighborhood.’

She argued that the regional reaction, split though it is, reflects a broader ideological shift.

‘There is a clear rightward shift underway in the region, and it is a healthy one,’ Maldonado said. ‘It reflects a growing alignment around the core principles of freedom, liberty, personal responsibility, national sovereignty and prosperity.’

While critics at the U.N. warned that U.S. action risks undermining international law, supporters argue the status quo had already collapsed under the weight of Venezuela’s humanitarian and security crisis.

‘Venezuela’s collapse has taught the region what happens when the state becomes your everything,’ Maldonado said. ‘When the state controls your job, your housing, your healthcare, your education, your courts and your information, freedom becomes conditional.’

Nicolás Maduro Guerra, the son of captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, has pledged his ‘unconditional support’ to the newly sworn-in interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, who served as his father’s vice president.

‘My unconditional support for the very hard task you’ve been given,’ Maduro Guerra, often called ‘Nicolasito,’ said, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). ‘Count on me, count on my family, count on our firmness in taking the right steps at the forefront of this responsibility that is now yours.’

Maduro Guerra made the remarks during his first public appearance since his father and stepmother, Cilia Flores, were captured by U.S. forces and extradited to New York. The ousted Venezuelan president’s son, who is himself a legislator, joined other ruling-party lawmakers for a planned swearing-in ceremony of the National Assembly for a term that will last until 2031, The Associated Press reported.

Maduro Guerra condemned the U.S. action, calling it a ‘kidnapping’ and saying that ‘no country is safe.’

‘If we normalize the kidnapping of a head of state, no country is safe. Today, it’s Venezuela. Tomorrow, it could be any nation that refuses to submit,’ Maduro Guerra said, according to the CBC. ‘This is not a regional problem. It is a direct threat to global political stability.’

Rodríguez, who was sworn-in on Monday, has served as vice president since 2018. Despite her objection to the U.S. military action that led to her former boss’ arrest, Rodríguez has vowed to work with the Trump administration.

‘I come with sorrow for the suffering inflicted upon the Venezuelan people following an illegitimate military aggression against our homeland,’ Rodríguez said, according to the AP.

Maduro and Flores were captured by U.S. forces early Saturday morning at their home in Caracas, Venezuela. The Trump administration announced the operation on Saturday after successful ‘large-scale’ military strikes targeting the Venezuelan government. The dictator and his wife are now being held in New York while they wait to face narco-terrorism charges against them. The historic move attracted praise and backlash across the globe, with some questioning the legality of the operation.

China and Russia were among powers that condemned the U.S. operation in Venezuela, while some regional allies, including Argentina, applauded the move.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado — who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025 for her fight for freedom in Venezuela — praised the operation, saying Jan. 3 will go down as a ‘day that justice defeated tyranny.’

‘It’s a milestone, and it’s not only huge for the Venezuelan people and our future, I think it’s a huge step for humanity, for freedom, and human dignity,’ Machado said during an appearance on ‘Hannity.’

‘A free Venezuela means, first, a security ally, dismantling the criminal hub of the Americas and turning it into a security shield, the strongest ally to dismantle all these criminal structures that have made so much damage and harm to our people and to the American people as well,’ she said. ‘Secondly, we will turn Venezuela into the energy hub of the Americas. We will bring rule of law. We will open markets. We will give security to foreign investment. Third, we’ll bring millions of Venezuelans that have been forced to flee their country back home, to build a strong nation, prosperous nation, open society,’ Machado added.

Machado, who has spent more than a year in hiding, has vowed to return to Venezuela.

Fox News Digital’s Maria Lencki and The Associated Press contributed to this report.