WASHINGTON, DC (By Peter Aitken, Newsweek, 3.Jan.2026, Words: 810) — President Donald Trump told Fox News on Saturday the United States will aim to be “strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil industry moving forward after the successful capture of the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.
Trump told FOX & Friends Weekend that he had spoken to Maduro a week before the operation and warned him that he needed to surrender, and that his refusal to do so forced the U.S. to “do something much more surgical, much more powerful.”
However, during his press conference later on Saturday, the president expanded on that vision, saying the U.S. would “run” Venezuela until a proper transition of power could take place. The South American country, meanwhile, has the largest known oil reserves in the world.
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Why It Matters
On Friday, Venezuela signaled its willingness to negotiate an anti-narcotics agreement with Washington. In a prerecorded interview broadcast on Thursday, Maduro accused the U.S. of seeking regime change and access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves through a months-long campaign that began with a military deployment to the Caribbean in August.
Then, overnight into Saturday, the U.S. carried out a “large-scale strike” on Caracas and captured Maduro and his wife, Cilla Flores. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Maduro and Flores have been formally indicted in the Southern District of New York and will face U.S. charges of narco-terrorism. He has denied similar charges in the past.
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Maduro had been indicted in March 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges in the same district. In August 2025, the U.S. doubled its bounty to $50 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest.
What To Know
The U.S. will take particular interest in Venezuela’s oil industry as part of the wider effort by the Trump administration to “run” the country.
Trump told reporters at a midday press conference that “it’s all being done right now.”
“We’re designating people, we’re talking to people, we’re designating various people,” he explained, adding that those who will run the country would largely be “the people who are standing behind [him],” indicating U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
The U.S. will maintain control until a “safe, proper, and judicious transition” can take place, but in that time Trump plans to “run it properly” and “make sure the people of Venezuela are taken care of.”
“It’s going to make a lot of money. We’re going to give money to the people,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. plans to “take back the oil that frankly we should have taken back a long time ago.”
“We built that whole industry there, and they just took it over like we were nothing. We did something about it,” the president said. “We’re late but we did something about it.”
He also said that any costs of operations and maintaining the country would “come out of the ground” and essentially pay for itself and “make the people of Venezuela rich, independent and safe.”
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What People Are Saying
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, wrote in an X post: “Venezuela is ruled by an illegitimate regime, but the Administration has not made the case that an urgent threat to America’s national security existed to justify the use of U.S. military force…Congress must be fully and immediately briefed on the strikes and regime change in Venezuela, the objectives and extent of this operation, and how the Administration intends to prevent further regional fallout.”
Far-right political activist Laura Loomer on X, in part: “Between Venezuela, China, Turkey and Iran, we are watching a major shock to the forces pushing multipolarity tonight.”
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said Saturday, per Reuters: “The world needs to speak out about this attack.”
European Commission (EU) President Ursula Von Der Leyen on X: “Following very closely the situation in Venezuela. We stand by the people of Venezuela and support a peaceful and democratic transition. Any solution must respect international law and the UN Charter.”
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a post on X accused the U.S. of “arrogantly” wanting to “impose something on the country and its officials, on the government and the nation.”
He wrote: “We will not yield to the enemy; with reliance and trust in Almighty God and with confidence in the people’s companionship, we will bring the enemy to its knees.”
What Happens Next
Venezuela’s Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López, announced a deployment of military forces and called for a united front of resistance in the face of “the worst aggression” ever against Venezuela.
Trump told Fox News that Maduro and his wife were aboard the U.S. warship Iwo Jima and headed to New York. The president later shared a photo of Maduro blindfolded in custody.
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