Trump declares himself as Acting President of Venezuela weeks about ousting Maduro

In yet another statement about running the country as a US colony, President Donald Trump on Monday declared himself as the Acting President of Venezuela. He has previously claimed he will run the country for years and control its oil reserves.

Trump shared a Wikipedia-type graphic on Truth Social that described him as the incumbent Acting President of Venezuela.

Earlier this month, at Trump’s orders, the US military invaded Venezuela and captured its leader, Nicolas Maduro, and whisked him away to the United States. Following the invasion, he said the United States was essentially in control of the country.

In his Truth Social post, US President Donald Trump recognises himself as the 'Acting President of Venezuela' pic.twitter.com/A23DlWqIBw

— ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2026

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Trump later told New York Times that he would run Venezuela for years.

Trump further said that the current Venezuelan leader, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, was working as per his wishes and her administration was “giving us everything that we feel is necessary”.

Trump added that he would take over Venezuelan oil reserves and rebuild the energy infrastructure in the country.

Trump said, “We will rebuild it in a very profitable way. We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil. We’re getting oil prices down, and we’re going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need.”

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Separately, Trump said that the United States would obtain 30-50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil.

Trump’s approach to Venezuela after ousting Maduro has been contradictory as well as confusing. While he, just like his predecessor Joe Biden, has declared Maduro as Venezuela’s illegitimate leader, he has treated his deputy, Delcy, who has taken over as the interim leader, as the country’s legitimate leader so far — whom he said has been working as per his wishes. He has also laid claims to Venezuelan oil reserves as if they were on American land.

While Republicans have almost entirely supported Trump’s invasion of Venezuela, there have been protests from sections of the party about Trump’s statements about running the country. Last week, five Republican senators joined Democrats to force a vote on a proposal mandating congressional approval for any military action regarding Venezuela.