President Donald Trump says that the United States is “running” Venezuela. But don’t ask Senate Republicans what that means.
“I have no idea, none whatsoever,” Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri told The Independent. “So I hope to find out.”
The president’s declaration came after the United States conducted strikes on Caracas that concluded with the capture of Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro. But many questions remain about the future of Venezuela’s fate. As of right now, the United States has asserted that Venezuela’s vice president Delcy Rodriguez is the new leader of the oil-rich Latin American country.
Trump also told reporters that the U.S. would be “running” Venezuela, without offering much in concrete plans or what that entails.
On Monday evening, congressional leadership and the “Gang of Eight”–which includes leaders on the House and Senate Intelligence Committee–received a briefing from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Attorney General Pam Bondi. That briefing happened after Trump launched the attacks, without notifying Congress. The Constitution gives the power to declare war to the legislative branch.
There is set to be a briefing for the rest of Congress-wide briefing on Venezuela on Wednesday. Republicans have largely blessed the operation in Caracas.
But they still have questions about long-term commitments in Venezuela.
Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, sounded just as confused as many others when it comes to “running.”
“He should be the one that actually answers that question,” he told The Independent. “He does not mean obviously, troops on the ground day-to-day, Marco Rubio sitting in the President's chair there. That's clearly not what he means.”
Lankford said it simply means the United States would protect its interests.
“It doesn't mean that clearly, that they're not going to just allow Iran and Cuba and everybody else to be able to run day to day operations there and have narco-terrorism happening,” he said.
The White House has insisted that the United States is not at war with Venezuela. On Monday evening, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the United States is a superpower and will conduct itself as much. Miller also called the idea of Nobel Laureate Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, running the country “absurd and preposterous.”
Venezuelans in America hoped that the deposing of Maduro would lead to democracy. Many Venezuelans in Florida overwhelmingly supported Trump because of his hawkish stance against the nation’s regime and his rhetoric against socialism.
But so far, Trump seems uninterested in democracy in the region, focusing heavily on oil. Sen. Rick Scott, who represents a large part of the Venezuelan diaspora in South Florida, said he spoke with Machado.
“I think he's trying to make sure we have a transition to a democracy,” Scott told The Independent. During his Saturday press conference, Trump said that Machado, who dedicated her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Trump, did not “have the support within, or the respect within, the country.”
But Scott said that Machado had the respect of the Venezuelan people.
“I tell you, she has the support of Venezuelans, so she's very concerned about the political prisoners that are there,” Scott said. Scott added that Machado is worried about the repression of prisoners under Rodriguez’s interim government.
“And I know that's not going to be something Trump's going to want to hear about,” Scott said. “He's not going to want to hear about what Delcy Rodriguez is doing where she's repressing the people of Venezuela, just like Maduro.”
Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio, who has criticized Colombia’s government and said on Saturday Trump’s attack put other countries ‘on notice that they are next if they aim to harm our nation,’ had a different definition of America running Venezuela.
“We got to make sure we stabilize the country first, right?” he said.
In 2024, the country held elections that international observers said Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, another opposition leader whom Machado supported, won with two-thirds of the vote, according to outside observers. But, Maduro declared himself the victor.
In an interview with NBC News, Trump told Meet The Press moderator Kristen Welker that Venezuela could not have elections.
“We have to fix the country first,” he said. “You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote.”
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said he had a number of remaining questions, though he still supported the attack.
“I think what the President was trying to communicate is hopefully facilitating a peaceful transition of power,” he told The Independent. “We'll have to wait and see. I don't know how you do that without boots on the ground, and I don’t support boots on the ground.”
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