WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump laid out a stark warning to Venezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodríguez, telling The Atlantic that “if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.”
Rodríguez had been serving as Venezuela’s vice president under President Nicolás Maduro, and the country’s supreme court declared that she would immediately assume the role of acting president after U.S. forces captured Maduro and brought him to the U.S.
Trump’s comments mark a shift in rhetoric from a day earlier, when he told reporters that Rodríguez had a “gracious” conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“She had a long conversation with Marco, and she said, ‘We’ll do whatever you need,’” Trump told reporters on Saturday. “I think she was quite gracious, but she really doesn’t have a choice. We’re going to have this done right.”
Later on Saturday, though, Rodríguez said Maduro was “the only president of Venezuela” and called for his “immediate liberation.”
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One Sunday evening, Trump says he needs “total access” from Rodríguez, saying, “We need access to the oil and to other things in their country that allow us to rebuild their country.”
Rubio said in an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” that “we don’t believe that this regime in place is legitimate via an election.”
“Ultimately, legitimacy for their system of government will come about through a period of transition and real elections, which they have not had,” he added later.
During an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Rubio said conversations about a potential election in Venezuela would be “premature.”
Trump on Saturday hinted at the possibility of future U.S. military strikes in Venezuela, telling reporters during the press briefing that the U.S. is “ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so.”
Trump also said during the briefing that “we’re rebuilding” Venezuela, adding: “We have to rebuild their whole infrastructure. The infrastructure is rotted.”
Rodríguez said in a statement, written in Spanish, that Venezuela extended the U.S. an invitation to work together “on an agenda of cooperation,” “within the framework of international law.”
“President Donald Trump: Our people and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war. That has always been President Nicolás Maduro’s position, and it is the position of all of Venezuela at this moment,” Rodríguez wrote.
“That is the Venezuela I believe in and have dedicated my life to. My dream is for Venezuela to be a great power where all good Venezuelans can come together,” she added.
In the interview with The Atlantic, which the outlet said was conducted Sunday morning over the phone, Trump again referenced rebuilding the country.
“You know, rebuilding there and regime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now,” he told The Atlantic. “Can’t get any worse.”
The president also referenced his ambitions for the U.S. to control Greenland, which is part of Denmark, a NATO ally.
“We do need Greenland, absolutely,” he told reporter Michael Scherer. “We need it for defense.”
In the hours after the U.S. military operation in Venezuela, Katie Miller, a right-wing podcast host and the wife of Trump adviser Stephen Miller, also hinted at a renewed target on Greenland.
“SOON,” she wrote in a post on X with an image showing an American flag superimposed on a map of Greenland.
Trump declined to discuss Greenland when asked by reporters Sunday night, but he said the U.S. needed the territory “from a national security situation.”
“It’s so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” Trump said. “We need Greenland, from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it, I can tell you.”
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security and the European Union needs us to have it, and they know that,” he added.
Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark’s ambassador to the U.S., responded to Miller’s post, writing, “Just a friendly reminder about the US and the Kingdom of Denmark: We are close allies and should continue to work together as such.”
“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he wrote at the end of the post.
Just under a year ago, before he took office, Trump declined to assure the public that he would not use military coercion against Greenland or Panama.
“No, I can’t assure you on either of those two, but I can say this: We need them for economic security,” he said at the time, responding to a question from a reporter.
