Trump: Machado Could Still Have a Role in Venezuela’s Future Governance

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump said Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado could still play a role in running Venezuela, even as questions remain over the country’s leadership following the US kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro.

Asked on Friday whether Machado might still be involved in governing Venezuela, Trump said he would need to speak with her, adding that she could “be involved in some aspects of it.”

Trump also confirmed he is willing to meet Machado in the United States next week, saying at a White House event that she is expected to arrive in Washington on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Earlier, Trump told reporters that “Machado doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country,” rejecting the idea that she could lead a regime-change effort in Venezuela.

A source close to Machado’s team told The Washington Post that her associates—who secretly left Venezuela in December with US assistance to attend the Nobel Prize ceremony in Norway—were taken aback by Trump’s comments regarding her political standing.

Trump has previously praised Machado, who has increasingly instigated violence against Venezuela and the government of Nicolás Maduro, while aligning herself with far-right forces in the United States and “Israel.” She was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, a decision welcomed by Trump and his inner circle despite her open calls for violence in Venezuela and her alignment with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party amid the genocide in Gaza.

Separately, a recent CIA intelligence assessment concluded that senior figures within Maduro’s government—particularly newly sworn-in Interim President Delcy Rodríguez—are best positioned to preserve stability in Venezuela should Maduro lose power, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Sources said the assessment was shared with Trump in recent weeks and did not recommend removing Maduro, instead focusing on the internal balance of power in the event of a sudden leadership vacuum.

The assessment played a key role in Trump’s decision to marginalize Machado. Despite her close ties to Trump during his first term and her public backing of US intervention in Venezuela, Trump concluded that she lacks sufficient domestic backing and credibility among Venezuela’s military leadership and elite power brokers.