US Secretary of State Rubio and US War Secretary Hegseth on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, told lawmakers, in a closed-door briefing to the Senate, the Trump administration does not plan to use ground troops in Venezuela, but American military will remain deployed around Venezuela indefinitely to provide “leverage” in stabilizing the region, according to more than a dozen lawmakers who attended the event.
“They are talking about stealing the Venezuelan oil at gunpoint, for an undefined period of time, as leverage to micromanage the country,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat. “The scope and insanity of that plan is absolutely stunning.”
Trump said Wednesday – in a nearly two-hour interview with the NY Times – that he expected the US would be running Venezuela and extracting oil for its reserves for years, adding that the interim government in Venezuela is “giving us everything that we feel is necessary.”
During the wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, Mr. Trump did not give a precise time range for how long the United States would remain Venezuela’s political overlord.
Leo Shane III, Connor O’Brien, and Joe Gould, Politico: Trump officials tell Congress: No troops in Venezuela https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/07/senators-venezuela-maduro-congress-00714417
David E. Sanger, Tyler Pager, Katie Rogers, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, NYT: Trump Says U.S. Oversight of Venezuela Could Last for Years https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/us/politics/trump-interview-venezuela.html