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By Peter Aitken
Politics Weekend Editor
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President Donald Trump on Saturday said that he did not see Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as a potential replacement for Nicolás Maduro after he was removed from power overnight.
"I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country," Trump said, adding that he thought she was a "very nice woman" when addressing the potential for her to take power.
Newsweek reached out to Machado's team for comment on Saturday afternoon.
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Why It Matters
Machado heads the Vente Venezuela party and overwhelmingly won a 2023 presidential primary, but the country's Supreme Tribunal of Justice blocked her from running for president directly.
For her efforts to try and advance democracy within Venezuela, Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025, a prize for which Trump had campaigned all year despite nominations closing in February, just weeks after his second administration commenced.
Christopher Sabatini, senior research fellow at the London think tank Chatham House, previously told Newsweek that Machado is the preferred choice for Washington and Democrats around the world. But added that "the question is how complicated it will be to get there."
"To what extent the Trump administration is willing to exercise diplomatic or even military muscle to try to exert her arrival is unclear," Sabatini said.
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What To Know
Trump held a press conference on Saturday to address the operation that happened Saturday morning in Venezuela, announcing several key points such as the U.S. plan to "run" the South American country until appropriate leadership is established and plans to build up the country's oil infrastructure and trade.
"We have to be surrounded by safe, secure countries, and we also have to have energy, very important. We have to have energy that's real energy," Trump said.
The question about who may qualify as appropriate leadership naturally centered on Machado, but Trump dismissed her as an option, saying she did not have the support of the people.
Trump said the U.S. had not been in contact with Machado at any point on Saturday when the U.S. entered Venezuela and launched strikes on Caracas as American forces captured Maduro and extracted him from the country. He is headed to the U.S. to face trial.
Trump instead said that he understands that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has been sworn in as Maduro's replacement, and that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken with her.
Trump said Rodriguez indicated she is "essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again."
What People Are Saying
Maria Corina Machado in a statement posted on X, in part: "This is the time of the citizens. Those of us who risked everything for democracy on July 28. Those of us who elected Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate President of Venezuela, who must immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as Commander-in-Chief of the National Armed Forces by all the officers and soldiers who make it up.
Today we are ready to assert our mandate and take power. Let us remain vigilant, active and organized until the Democratic Transition takes place. A transition that needs us all."
Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement condemning the attack, adding that its government "rejects the military actions carried out unilaterally in recent hours by the armed forces of the United States of America against targets in the territory of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in clear violation of Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations."
Argentinian President Javier Milei wrote on X that "FREEDOM MOVES FORWARD. LONG LIVE FREEDOM DAMMIT," adding in another post: "The time to have a timid approach on this subject has passed,"
Update 1/3/26, 2:15 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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