The Trump administration’s key figures in foreign policy convened on Capitol Hill this past Monday to inform congressional committee leaders about the recent capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. This significant development has set the stage for potential shifts in Venezuela’s political landscape.

Following the confidential meeting, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast addressed the press, revealing that Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former Vice President and the current acting leader of Venezuela, is actively engaging with the United States. Mast mentioned that while Secretary of State Marco Rubio advocates for free and fair elections in Venezuela, no specific timeline has been laid out for these democratic processes.

Chairman Mast emphasized that this situation does not constitute a regime change. He assured that Rodríguez is focused on maintaining the nation’s stability and preventing a power vacuum. Her efforts include fostering communication with the U.S. and strengthening ties with Central American partners.

In the briefing, high-ranking officials such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi, shared insights with leaders from the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and both the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees.

The briefing also included the Gang of Eight, comprising House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, alongside the heads and ranking members of the intelligence committees from both chambers.

Notably absent from the classified session were Senators Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin, the chair and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. These senators voiced their dissatisfaction, questioning their exclusion since the administration has characterized Maduro’s capture as a matter of law enforcement.

“There is no legitimate basis for excluding the Senate Judiciary Committee from this briefing,’ the duo noted in a joint statement.

‘The administration’s refusal to acknowledge our Committee’s indisputable jurisdiction in this matter is unacceptable and we are following up to ensure the Committee receives warranted information regarding Maduro’s arrest,’ they added.

Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives at the U.S. Capitol Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Washington, to brief top lawmakers after President Donald Trump directed U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives at the U.S. Capitol Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, for a closed-door briefing with top lawmakers after President Donald Trump ordered U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and bring him to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges

 Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, were taken by Delta Force special operators from their home in the presidential palace in Caracas in the early hours of Saturday morning, a maneuver that the dictator described as a kidnapping in his first court appearance in New York on Monday. 

Republicans have heralded the operation, while some Democrats have been shocked that they were not brought up to speed on the intervention before it happened.

Senate Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday that, ‘Maduro is a tyrant,’ and that ‘nobody mourns what has happened to him.’ 

‘Now the crucial question is what comes back for Venezuela and, more importantly, for the United States,’ Schumer continued, before adding that ‘nobody seems to know.’

House Speaker Mike Johnson unsurprisingly backed the Trump administration’s work in Venezuela wholeheartedly, noting during his own press conference ahead of the briefing that ‘officials did exactly what they were supposed to do on the timetable they were supposed to do it in.’

Johnson added that Trump’s action was fully within presidential authority, and that it ‘did not require prior authorization by Congress. It just required notification.’ 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to the media as he arrives for a bicameral congressional leadership briefing with administration officials at the U.S. Capitol on January 05, 2026 in Washington, DC

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth arrives for a briefing with bicameral congressional leadership at the U.S. Capitol on January 05, 2026 in Washington, DC. The briefing addressed U.S. actions in Venezuela, including the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores

Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives at the U.S. Capitol Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Washington, to brief top lawmakers after President Donald Trump directed U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

Trump himself pushed back on his congressional critics, telling NBC News that he has ‘good support congressionally.’

‘And Congress knew what we were doing all along, but we have good support congressionally. Why wouldn’t they support us?’

Trump declined to comment on whether or not anyone in Congress was told about the operation before it happened.

‘I don’t want to get into that,’ he replied, ‘but people knew.’

Senator Rand Paul, a Republican who often criticizes Trump said Monday that he didn’t understand how ‘bombing the capital of a country and removing the president’ was not an act of war, when his GOP colleagues criticized former President Barack Obama’s actions in Libya.

Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman, meanwhile, noted that ‘it’s pretty strange why you can’t at least acknowledge it’s possible for Venezuela to have a better future when you don’t have a monster like that.’