Trump Boasts Venezuela Oil Boost After Maduro Capture, Puts Elections Off

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump said ordering the January 3 raid to seize Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro was easy, and insisted he has bipartisan backing.

"It wasn't a hard decision. Democrats wanted him, and Republicans wanted him, and nobody had what it takes to get him," Trump said.

The operation led to the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were taken to New York to face charges of alleged "narco-terrorism" and threats against US national security.

Trump also revealed that the United States expects to gain billions, and potentially trillions, of dollars from Venezuelan oil sales.

"We're taking billions and billions of dollars worth of oil, and it'll be hundreds of billions of dollars. It'll be trillions of dollars, but we're going to be there till we straighten out the country," Trump told Fox News.

Trump says Venezuela’s interim authorities will hand over 30–50 million barrels of oil to the US, with proceeds to benefit both countries, and that Caracas will use the money to buy only American‑made products — and his administration also demanded the release of political prisoners, which he says the interim government has cooperated on.

Parliament Speaker Jorge Rodriguez said Venezuelan authorities are releasing a “large number” of prisoners, including foreigners, as a unilateral gesture, and Trump added that future elections will take time because the country must first be rebuilt.

Trump confirmed that Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado is expected in the US next week, calling her “a very nice person” and saying he looks forward to meeting her.

Machado left Venezuela last month to travel to Norway to receive the prize and has not returned, telling Fox News she plans to go back “as soon as possible.”

Although Trump has dismissed the notion of collaborating with her, Machado has praised the US aggression, describing it as “a huge step for humanity, for freedom and human dignity.”

She openly backed Trump’s pressure on Maduro in 2025, praising his approach as key to removing him.