The United States is “not at war” in Venezuela, the Republican speaker of the House Mike Johnson said on Monday, despite the weekend raid Donald Trump ordered to capture president Nicolás Maduro and announcement that the US would now “run” the country.
The surprise incursion came after months of mounting US pressure on Venezuela, which has included a blockade of some oil shipments and airstrikes on vessels off its shores that have killed at least 110 people.
Trump has claimed that the newly sworn in interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, will cooperate with his demands for US oil majors to take control of Venezuela’s large crude reserves, but Democrats have criticized the president for embroiling the United States in the sort of conflict he campaigned on avoiding, without seeking permission from Congress.
Following a briefing from top administration officials including secretary of state Marco Rubio, defense secretary Pete Hegseth and attorney general Pam Bondi, Johnson told reporters that Trump is not looking to take control of Venezuela militarily.
“We are not at war. We do not have US armed forces in Venezuela, and we are not occupying that country,” Johnson said, noting that he disagreed with Democrats’ criticisms that Trump broke the law by not telling Congress in advance of the attack.
“This is not a regime change. 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,” the speaker said.
The Trump administration has alleged that Maduro ran a “narco-terrorist” government that trafficked drugs, including fentanyl, into the United States, a claim that experts have disputed. They also allege that Maduro allowed US rivals such as China and Russia as well as armed groups like Hezbollah to operate in Venezuela, giving them a foothold in the western hemisphere.
Johnson predicted that the White House’s strategy of choking Venezuela’s oil production would force its socialist government to change, and to eventually hold new elections. Analyses of the 2024 presidential election results in Venezuela indicate that Maduro stole victory from the main opposition candidate.
“We have a way of persuasion, because their oil exports, as you know, have been seized. And I think that will bring the country to to a new governance in very short order,” he said. “So we don’t expect troops on the ground.”
Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said the briefing “posed far more questions than it ever answered”, and warned that the US was on the precipice of being sucked into a new war.
“Their plan for the US running Venezuela is vague, based on wishful thinking and unsatisfying,” Schumer said. “I did not receive any assurances that we would not try to do the same thing in other countries … 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.”
Maduro, who was arrested along with his wife Cilia Flores, has been indicted by federal prosecutors on four charges related to guns, drugs and narco-terrorism. He pleaded not guilty in an initial court appearance in New York City earlier on Monday. In an emergency meeting of the UN security council, dozens of countries denounced the US incursion as a “crime of aggression”.
Democratic senators plan to force a vote on a war powers resolution later this week that will require congressional permission for Trump to carry out any further military action in Venezuela. It is unclear if it has enough support to pass the Republican-controlled chamber.
Monday’s briefing was given only to the top Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as the bipartisan leaders of each chambers’ committees overseeing intelligence, foreign policy and the armed forces. Johnson said that top administration officials will return to the Capitol on Wednesday to brief all lawmakers on the Venezuela strategy.
Though the Trump administration has described the raid as a law enforcement operation backed by the military, Congress’s judiciary committees were not included in Monday’s briefing.
Republican Senate judiciary chair Chuck Grassley and Democratic ranking member Dick Durbin issued a rare joint statement protesting their exclusion that said: “There is no legitimate basis for excluding the Senate judiciary committee from this briefing.
“The administration’s refusal to acknowledge our committee’s indisputable jurisdiction in this matter is unacceptable and we are following up to ensure the committee receives warranted information regarding Maduro’s arrest.”
Brian Mast, the Republican chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, said Congress did not need to weigh in ahead of the attack, calling it “not an operation that requires authorization”.
He compared the capture of Maduro to Trump’s 2020 killing of powerful Iranian general Qassem Suleimani or the June bombing raid the president ordered against Tehran’s nuclear facilities, describing them as swift military actions that accomplished their objectives without requiring the long-term commitment of US troops.
“They are not the protracted war administration, they never have been. They haven’t produced a protracted war,” Mast said.
