US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Venezuela would not hold new elections in the next 30 days and that the country must first be stabilized following the capture of its leader Nicolás Maduro. Speaking to NBC News, Trump emphasized that the US is not at war with Venezuela, even as the country increases its involvement in the Latin American country.“First we have to get the country in order. There are no elections. There is no way the people can even vote,” Trump said. The MAGA leader added: “No, it’s going to take time. We have to – we have to nurse the country back to health.”His comments came two days after U.S. forces arrested Maduro and his wife in Caracas and flew him to New York, where he was questioned about his alleged crimes, including narcoterrorism and cocaine importation. Maduro pleaded not guilty and said he remained Venezuela’s leader even as Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as his successor and interim president on Monday.Trump said the U.S. could help rebuild Venezuela’s oil and energy sectors and potentially subsidize oil companies involved in restoring infrastructure. “I think we can do it in less time, but it will cost a lot of money,” Trump added. The US president added: “There is a huge amount of money that needs to be spent, and the oil companies will spend it, and then they will be reimbursed by us or through revenue.”Trump made it clear that the US is not waging war with the Venezuelan state. “No, we’re not,” Trump said when asked if the U.S. was at war with Venezuela. He said instead that America was at war on drugs: “We are at war on people who sell drugs. We are at war on people who are emptying their prisons into our country and emptying their drug addicts and their mental institutions into our country.”Trump said a group of senior officials would oversee the US engagement, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. The GOP leader also said the U.S. could conduct another military operation if cooperation fails. “We are ready for this,” he said. “We actually expected it.”Despite criticism from some allies over the lack of congressional authorization for the invasion, Trump said he did not need authorization to act again. “We have good support in Congress,” he said.Additionally, the POTUS said he remains confident in his political support: “MAGA loves it. MAGA loves what I do. MAGA loves everything I do.”
