WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio left the door open Wednesday to future U.S. navy motion in Venezuela, telling lawmakers that whereas the Trump administration doesn’t anticipate additional escalation, the president retains the authority to make use of pressure if Venezuela’s interim management or different American adversaries defy U.S. calls for.
Rubio’s remarks got here hours after President Trump deployed what he known as a “large armada” to strain Iran again to the negotiating desk over its nuclear weapons program, amid broader questions on how current U.S. tensions with Denmark over Greenland are affecting American relations with NATO allies.
“The president by no means guidelines out his choices as commander in chief to guard the nationwide curiosity of the USA,” Rubio informed the Senate Overseas Relations Committee. “I can let you know proper now with full certainty, we aren’t postured to, nor can we intend or count on to take any navy motion in Venezuela at any time.”
The looks marked Rubio’s first public testimony earlier than a congressional panel since U.S. forces seized former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and introduced him to New York to face narco-trafficking prices practically a month in the past. Rubio was pressed by Democratic lawmakers over congressional struggle powers and whether or not the operation had meaningfully superior democracy in Venezuela.
“We’ve traded one dictator for an additional. All the identical persons are working the nation,” mentioned Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Appearing President Delcy Rodríguez “has taken no steps to decrease Iran, China or Russia’s appreciable affect in Venezuela.”
Rodríguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice chairman, has dedicated to opening Venezuela’s power sector to American corporations, offering preferential entry to manufacturing and utilizing revenues to buy American items, in keeping with Rubio’s testimony.
However questions stay about Rodríguez’s personal alleged ties to trafficking networks. The Related Press reported that she has been on the DEA’s radar for years for suspected involvement in drug and gold smuggling, although no public prison prices have been filed.
And regardless of Trump’s warning that Rodríguez would “pay a really huge worth” if she doesn’t cooperate, she has pushed again in public in opposition to U.S. strain over commerce coverage.
“We have now the precise to have diplomatic relations with China, with Russia, with Iran, with Cuba, with all of the peoples of the world. Additionally with the USA. We’re a sovereign nation,” Rodríguez mentioned earlier this month.
Venezuela is among the many largest recipients of Chinese language loans globally, with greater than $100 billion dedicated over current many years. A lot of that debt has been repaid via discounted oil shipments underneath an oil-for-loans framework, financing Chinese language-backed infrastructure tasks and serving to stabilize successive Venezuelan governments.
U.S. navy leaders have warned Congress about Iran’s rising strategic presence within the hemisphere, together with considerations over ballistic missile capabilities and the provision of assault and surveillance drones to Venezuela.
“If an Iranian drone manufacturing facility pops up and threatens our forces within the area,” Rubio mentioned, “the president retains the choice to remove that.”
Democrats additionally argued that the administration’s broader overseas coverage is undercutting U.S. financial power and alliances, notably in competitors with China.
Regardless of Trump’s tariff marketing campaign, China posted a document world commerce surplus in 2025, lawmakers famous, whereas estimates present U.S. manufacturing employment has declined by tens of hundreds of jobs because the tariffs took impact.
Senators pushed again on the State Division’s assertion that U.S. coverage has unified allies in opposition to China, arguing as an alternative that tariffs and up to date navy escalations involving Greenland, Iran and Venezuela have strained relations with key companions. They pointed to Canada for example, noting that Ottawa just lately reached a commerce take care of China amid considerations concerning the reliability of the USA as a accomplice.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a Republican dissenter on Venezuela, rejected the Trump administration’s framing of Maduro’s seize as a legislation enforcement operation slightly than an act of struggle.
He pressed Rubio on congressional authorization.
“If we mentioned {that a} overseas nation invaded our capital, bombed all our air protection — which might be an intensive bombing marketing campaign, and it was — eliminated our president, after which blockaded the nation, we might suppose it was an act of struggle,” Paul mentioned.
Congressional Republicans voted to dismiss a struggle powers decision earlier this month that might have restricted Trump’s potential to conduct additional assaults on Venezuela after two GOP senators reversed course on supporting the laws.
They did so primarily based on casual assurances from the administration that it could seek the advice of members of Congress earlier than taking navy motion.
“I used to be an enormous fan of [congressional] session after I was sitting over there,” Rubio mentioned, joking about his tenure as a senator on the committee. “Now, you understand, it’s a distinct job, completely different time.”
The Battle Powers Act dictates how the chief should handle navy operations, together with that the administration should notify Congress inside 48 hours of a navy operation.
“And if it’s going to last more than 60 days, we’ve to return to Congress with it. We don’t anticipate both of this stuff having to occur,” Rubio mentioned.
He added that the administration’s finish aim is “a pleasant, secure, affluent Venezuela,” and cautioned that free and truthful elections would take time because the administration works with Rodríguez to stabilize the nation.
“You may have elections all day, but when the opposition has no entry to the media … these aren’t free and truthful elections,” Rubio mentioned. “There’s a share of the Venezuelan inhabitants … that won’t have preferred Maduro, however are nonetheless dedicated to Chavista ideology. They’ll be represented in that platform as properly.”
Rubio fell in need of offering concrete timelines, prompting skepticism from lawmakers who cited ongoing stories that political prisoners stay jailed and that opposition figures akin to Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado would nonetheless be blocked from looking for workplace. He’ll meet with Machado this week to debate her position within the ongoing regime change.
“I’ve recognized Maria Corina for in all probability 12 or 13 years,” Rubio mentioned. “I’ve dealt along with her in all probability greater than anyone.”
However the actuality on the bottom stays tough, he mentioned, including the administration has hedged its bets on the present Venezuelan authorities to adjust to U.S. efforts to stabilize the economic system and weed out political violence earlier than truthful elections may be held.
“The folks that management the weapons and the establishments of presidency there are within the fingers of this regime,” Rubio mentioned.
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