Rubio defends Trump on Venezuela while trying to allay fears about
Greenland and NATO
[January 29, 2026]
By MATTHEW LEE, STEPHEN GROVES and JOSHUA GOODMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a full-throated
defense Wednesday of President Donald Trump's military operation to
capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, while explaining to
U.S. lawmakers the administration’s approach to Greenland, NATO, Iran
and China.
As Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee offered starkly different readings of the administration's
foreign policy, Rubio addressed Trump's intentions and his often
bellicose rhetoric that has alarmed U.S. allies in Europe and elsewhere,
including demands to take over Greenland.
In the first public hearing since the Jan. 3 raid to depose Maduro,
Rubio said Trump had acted to take out a major U.S. national security
threat in the Western Hemisphere. Trump's top diplomat said America was
safer and more secure as a result and that the administration would work
with interim authorities to stabilize the South American country.
“We’re not going to have this thing turn around overnight, but I think
we’re making good and decent progress,” Rubio said. “We are certainly
better off today in Venezuela than we were four weeks ago, and I think
and hope and expect that we’ll be better off in three months and six
months and nine months than we would have been had Maduro still been
there."
The former Florida senator said Venezuela's current leaders are
cooperating and would soon begin to see benefits. But he backed away
from remarks prepared for the hearing that Washington would not hesitate
to take further military action should those leaders not fully accept
Trump's demands.
“I can tell you right now with full certainty, we are not postured to
nor do we intend or expect to have to take any military action in
Venezuela at any time," Rubio said. “I think it would require the
emergence of an imminent threat of the kind that we do not anticipate at
this time.”
He said Venezuela soon will be allowed to sell oil that is now subject
to U.S. sanctions, and the revenue would be set aside to pay for basic
government services such as policing and health care. Oil proceeds will
be deposited in a U.S. Treasury-controlled account and released after
the U.S. approves monthly budgets to be submitted by Venezuela, he said.
Pushback against skepticism from Democrats
Republican senators, with few exceptions, praised the operation in
Venezuela. Among Democrats, there was deep skepticism.
They questioned Trump's policies in Venezuela and their potential for
encouraging moves by China against Taiwan and Russia even more so in
Ukraine, as well as his threats to take Greenland from NATO ally Denmark
and his insults about the alliance's contributions to U.S. security.
Rubio played them all down.
He said the uproar over Greenland within NATO is calming and that talks
are underway about how to deal with Trump's demands. The Republican
president insists the U.S. needs Greenland to counter threats from
Russia and China, but he recently backed away from a pledge to impose
tariffs on several European countries that sent troops to the
semiautonomous Danish territory in a show of solidarity.
“I think we’re going to get something positive done," Rubio said.
Rubio dismissed criticism that Trump was undermining the alliance, while
repeating the long-running American complaint that member nations need
to boost their defense budgets.
“NATO needs to be reimagined,” Rubio said. “I just think this president
complains about it louder than other presidents."
He said China's stated goal to reunify Taiwan with the mainland would
not be affected by any other world event, including the Maduro
operation.
“The situation on Taiwan is a legacy project" that Chinese President Xi
Jinping has made "very clear that that’s what he intends to do and
that’s going to be irrespective anything that happens in the world,”
Rubio said.
As Trump once more threatens Iran with military action, Rubio said there
was no current plan to attack. Asked about the potential for a change of
government in Tehran, Rubio said that would require “a lot of careful
thinking” because it would be “far more complex” than ousting Maduro.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee to explain President Donald Trump's policy
toward Venezuela following the U.S. military raid that ousted
then-President Nicolas Maduro, at the Capitol in Washington,
Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
He noted that the increased military presence in the Middle East —
an aircraft carrier and accompanying warships arrived this week — is
“to defend against what could be an Iranian threat against our
personnel.”
More details about the raid in Caracas
The Republican committee chairman, Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, offered new
details on the operation in the Venezuelan capital, saying it
involved “only about 200 troops” and a “firefight that lasted less
than 27 minutes.”
“This military action was incredibly brief, targeted and
successful,” Risch said, adding that the U.S. and other nations may
have to assist Venezuela when it seeks to restore democratic
elections.
”Venezuela may require U.S. and international oversight to ensure
these elections are indeed free and fair,” he said.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the committee's top Democrat,
questioned whether that operation was worth it, considering most of
Maduro's top aides and lieutenants still run the Venezuela and the
economic situation there remains bleak.
"We’ve traded one dictator for another, so it’s no wonder that so
many of my constituents are asking, why is the president spending so
much time focused on Venezuela instead of the cost of living and
their kitchen table economic concerns?" she asked. “From Venezuela
to Europe, the United States is spending more, risking more and
achieving less.”
Call for eventual democratic elections in Venezuela
Rubio delivered his strongest statement yet of support for democracy
in Venezuela, while concerns persist that the administration’s
stabilization efforts are narrowly focused on oil and U.S. national
security interests.
“What’s the end state? We want a Venezuela that has legitimate
democratic elections,” said Rubio, who met Venezuelan opposition
leader María Corina Machado at the State Department after the
hearing.
Machado reiterated her intention to return to Venezuela. “Dear
Venezuelans, we are moving forward with firm steps,” she posted on
X. “I will return to Venezuela very soon to work together on the
transition and the building of an exceptional country.”
Before that, Rubio faced tough questioning from Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.,
about cooperating with interim leaders who had been part of Maduro's
authoritarian government. Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodríguez,
is now the acting president.
The U.S. has said its demands for Rodriguez include opening
Venezuela’s energy sector to U.S. companies, providing preferential
access to production, using oil revenue to purchase American goods,
and ending subsidized oil exports to Cuba.
Neither Rodríguez nor her government’s press office immediately
commented on Rubio’s remarks. She said Tuesday that her government
and the U.S. “have established respectful and courteous channels of
communication.” So far, she has appeared to acquiesce to Trump’s
demands and to release prisoners jailed by the government under
Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.
In a key step to the restoration of diplomatic relations, the State
Department said it intends to begin sending additional diplomatic
and support personnel to Caracas to prepare for the possible
reopening of the U.S. Embassy, which shuttered in 2019.
Fully normalizing ties, however, would require the U.S. to revoke
its decision recognizing the Venezuelan parliament elected in 2015
as the country’s legitimate government.
___
Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela,
and David Klepper in Washington contributed to this report.
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