House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) issued a calming message to those concerned about the fallout from the arrest of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro over the weekend. To those concerned about a looming war between the countries, Johnson said not to “expect boots on the ground” in the South American country.
Johnson implied further calmness by suggesting he anticipated a new presidential election in the country, which would occur in “short order.” The Speaker’s comments came after a two-hour briefing on the events in Venezuela with senior legislators, according to multiple sources.
“We don’t expect troops on the ground,” Johnson said to the media after the briefing. “We don’t expect direct involvement in any other way beyond just coercing the … the interim government to get that going.”
“I expect that there will be an election called in Venezuela,” he added. “It should happen in short order.” He also emphasized that this was not a regime change operation.
“The way this is being described — this is not a regime change,” Johnson said. “This is a demand for change of behavior by a regime.”
Johnson also said that all House and Senate members will get a full briefing on Wednesday. However, the details of it have not been finalized yet, Politico reported.
Key members of Trump’s Cabinet, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, among others, met with senior party leaders and members of the Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Armed Services, and Intelligence committees, Politico reported. The meeting came hours after Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, which included, among others, drug trafficking, in a federal court in New York City, New York, on Monday.
Rubio spoke about “Operation Absolute Resolve,” Saturday’s military operation in which Maduro and his wife were extracted from Venezuela, on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. He explained to Kirstin Welker that the U.S. did not have ground forces and didn’t expect to have any in the future.
“We don’t have U.S. forces on the ground in Venezuela,” Rubio said. “They were on the ground for about two hours when they went to capture Maduro.”
“What the President is saying is very simple — and that is as President of the United States, he is not going to go around telling people what he’s not going to do,” Rubio added.
For the most part, the congressional response to “Operation Absolute Resolve” has been predictably split among party lines. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was skeptical about the administration’s plans for Venezuela, categorizing the briefing as “extensive” but also resulting in “far more questions than it answered,” according to reports.
“Their plan for the U.S. running Venezuela is vague … based on wishful thinking and unsatisfying,” Schumer said.