Trump Says His Administration Is 'Getting Along Very Well' With Venezuela's Interim Administration

President Donald Trump said his administration is "getting along very well" with Venezuela's interim regime after the capture of Nicolas Maduro.

In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, Trump said the regime led by interim President Delcy Rodriguez is "giving us everything that we feel is necessary."

Elsewhere in the interview, Trump said his administration expects to maintain direct oversight of the government in Caracas for an extended period, noting that it will last "much longer than a year."

Trump declined to set a specific timeline for the involvement, saying his government plans to extract and sell Venezuelan oil while providing funds back to the country. "We will rebuild it in a very profitable way," he told the news outlet, explaining that the United States would use Venezuelan crude to lower global prices while directing revenue to meet Venezuela's needs. He also acknowledged that reviving the country's oil sector would take years.

Also on Wednesday, senior administration officials told lawmakers that the United States intends to effectively control the sale of Venezuela's oil for the foreseeable future. According to briefings led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the administration envisions a three-part process of stabilization, recovery and transition following the capture of Nicolás Maduro.

Rubio told reporters the first phase would involve what he described as a "quarantine," including continued seizures of sanctioned oil and the sale of up to 30 to 50 million barrels on the open market. The proceeds, he said, would be controlled by the United States and distributed in ways intended to benefit Venezuelans rather than former regime figures. A second phase would focus on reopening the Venezuelan market and rebuilding civil society, while details of a third phase — the political transition — remain undefined.

Rodriguez, struck a defiant tone on Tuesday, saying "the government of Venezuela rules our country, no one else." "There is no external agent governing Venezuela," she added. Addressing threats directly, she added: "Those who threaten me—I say this clearly—my destiny is decided only by God."

Moreover, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado warned that Rodriguez is "even more ruthless" than Maduro. Speaking on CBS Evening News, Machado said Rodríguez was "one of the main architects" of Maduro's system of oppression. "Everybody in Venezuela and abroad knows perfectly who she is and the role she has played," Machado said, rejecting arguments that Rodríguez could credibly oversee a transition.