WAHSINGTON
\n A classified CIA assessment presented to US President Donald Trump concluded senior Maduro loyalists, including Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, were best positioned to maintain stability if the Venezuelan leader lost power, two sources briefed on the matter said
\nTrump was briefed on the report and it was shared with a small group of his senior national security team, the sources said. The assessment was one reason why Trump decided to back Nicolas Maduro\u2019s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, instead of opposition leader Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, the sources said. The White House declined to confirm the report.
\n\u201cPresident Trump is routinely briefed on domestic political dynamics all over the world. The president and his national security team are making realistic decisions to finally ensure Venezuela aligns with the interests of the United States, and becomes a better country for the Venezuelan people,\u201d White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to a query.
\nVenezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Monday she plans to return home \u201cas soon as possible,\u201d and slammed the interim president in Caracas. US Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives to brief members of Congress on the situation in Venezuela, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, January 5, 2026. \u2014 Reuters
\nUS Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives to brief members of Congress on the situation in Venezuela, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, January 5, 2026. \u2014 Reuters In her first public comments since a social media post over the weekend, when the US military forcibly removed president Nicolas Maduro from power, the Nobel Peace Prize winner vowed to return to her country.
\n\u201cI\u2019m planning to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible,\u201d Machado told broadcaster Sean Hannity on Fox News, speaking from an undisclosed location. Machado openly rejected the country\u2019s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, saying she \u201cis one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narcotrafficking. \u201cRodriguez, who has signalled her willingness to cooperate with Washington, was Venezuela\u2019s vice president under Maduro.
\nMachado said Rodriguez is \u201crejected\u201d by the Venezuelan people, and voters were on the opposition\u2019s side. \u201cIn free and fair elections, we will win by over 90% of the votes, I have no doubt about it,\u201d Machado said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WAHSINGTON A classified CIA assessment presented to US President Donald Trump concluded senior Maduro loyalists, including Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, were best positioned to maintain stability if the Venezuelan leader lost power, two sources briefed on the matter said Trump was briefed on the report and it was shared with a small group of his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-524143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n