In prepared testimony for a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio says the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela and that its interim leaders are cooperating<\/a>, but he notes that the Trump administration would not rule out using additional force if needed following a raid to capture then-President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> early this month.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail,\u201d Rubio will say, according to his prepared opening statement released Tuesday by the State Department. \u201cIt is our hope that this will not prove necessary, but we will never shy away from our duty to the American people and our mission in this hemisphere.\u201d<\/p>\n As he often is called to do, Rubio, a former Florida senator, will aim to sell one of President Donald Trump\u2019s more contentious priorities<\/a> to former colleagues in Congress. With the Republican administration\u2019s foreign policy gyrating<\/a> among the Western Hemisphere, Europe and the Middle East, Rubio also may be called to smooth alarm that has emerged in his own party<\/a> lately about efforts like Trump\u2019s demand to annex Greenland<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the hearing focused on Venezuela, Rubio will defend Trump\u2019s decisions to remove Maduro to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S., continue deadly military strikes<\/a> on boats suspected of smuggling drugs and seize sanctioned tankers<\/a> carrying Venezuelan oil, according to the prepared remarks. He will again reject allegations that Trump is violating the Constitution by taking such actions.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no war against Venezuela, and we did not occupy a country,\u201d he will say, according to the prepared remarks. \u201cThere are no U.S. troops on the ground. This was an operation to aid law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n Maduro, who has pleaded not guilty<\/a> to federal drug trafficking charges in a U.S. court, has defiantly declared himself \u201cthe president of my country\u201d and protested his capture.<\/p>\n Congress has not curtailed Trump on Venezuela<\/p>\n Congressional Democrats have condemned Trump\u2019s moves as exceeding the authority of the executive branch, while most Republicans have supported them<\/a> as a legitimate exercise of presidential power.<\/p>\n Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch, the chairman of the committee, planned to open the hearing by lauding Trump and Rubio for making Americans safer with the military actions in and around Venezuela and saying they were legal.<\/p>\n \u201cThese actions were limited in scope, short in duration, and done to protect U.S. interests and citizens,\u201d Risch will say, according to his prepared remarks released by the committee. \u201cWhat President Trump has done in Venezuela is the definition of the president\u2019s Article II constitutional authorities as commander-in-chief.\u201d<\/p>\n New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the committee, was taking the opposite tack, questioning whether the operation to remove Maduro was worth it considering most of his former top aides and lieutenants are still running the country.<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. naval blockade around Venezuela and the raid have already cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars \u2026 and yet the Maduro regime is still in power,\u201d she plans to say, according to her prepared opening statement.<\/p>\n The House narrowly defeated a war powers act<\/a> resolution that would have directed Trump to remove U.S. troops from Venezuela. As Rubio will argue, the administration says there are no U.S. troops on the ground in the South American nation despite a large military buildup in the region.<\/p>\n Democrats had argued that the resolution was necessary after the U.S. raid to capture Maduro and because Trump has stated plans to control the country\u2019s oil industry for years to come.<\/p>\n The pushback has begun in the courts, too, as the families of two Trinidadian nationals killed in a Trump administration boat strike filed what is thought to be the first wrongful-death case<\/a> arising from the campaign. Three dozen strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean have killed at least 126 people<\/a> since September.<\/p>\n The US takes steps to normalize ties while still issuing warnings<\/p>\n While keeping pressure on those the Trump administration dubs \u201cnarcotraffickers\u201d without providing evidence, U.S. officials also are working to normalize ties with Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez<\/a>. Nonetheless, Rubio will make clear in his testimony that she has little choice but to comply with Trump\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n \u201cRodr\u00edguez is well aware of the fate of Maduro; it is our belief that her own self-interest aligns with advancing our key objectives,\u201d Rubio will say, noting that they include opening Venezuela\u2019s energy sector to U.S. companies, providing preferential access to production, using oil revenue to purchase American goods, and ending subsidized oil exports to Cuba.<\/p>\n Rodr\u00edguez, who previously served as Maduro\u2019s vice president, on Tuesday said her government and the Trump administration \u201chave established respectful and courteous channels of communication.\u201d During televised remarks, Rodr\u00edguez said she is working with Trump and Rubio to set \u201ca working agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n So far, she has appeared to acquiesce to Trump\u2019s demands and to release prisoners jailed<\/a> by the government under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Ch\u00e1vez. On Monday, the head of a Venezuelan human rights group said 266 political prisoners had been freed since Jan. 8.<\/p>\n Trump had praised the releases, saying on social media that he would \u201clike to thank the leadership of Venezuela for agreeing to this powerful humanitarian gesture!\u201d<\/p>\n In a key step to the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the State Department notified Congress just this week that it intends to begin sending additional diplomatic and support personnel to Caracas to prepare for the possible reopening of the U.S. Embassy there.<\/p>\n It was the first formal notice of the administration\u2019s intent to reopen the embassy, which shuttered in 2019. Fully normalizing ties, however, would require the U.S. to revoke its decision recognizing the Venezuelan parliament elected in 2015 as the country\u2019s legitimate government.<\/p>\n Rubio also planned to meet Venezuelan opposition leader Mar\u00eda Corina Machado later Wednesday at the State Department.<\/p>\n Machado went into hiding after Maduro was declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. She reemerged in December to pick up her Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. After Maduro was ousted, she traveled to Washington. In a meeting with Trump<\/a>, she presented him with her Peace Prize medal, an extraordinary gesture given that Trump has effectively sidelined her.<\/p>\n Associated Press writer Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By MATTHEW LEE and STEPHEN GROVES, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[75487,75486,74,76,75,75485,9298],"class_list":{"0":"post-153252","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-donald-trump-venezuela","9":"tag-foreign-relations-committee-hearing-with-marco-rubio","10":"tag-san-diego","11":"tag-san-diego-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego-news","13":"tag-secretary-of-state-marco-rubio","14":"tag-venezuela"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Sen.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US_Venezuela_Congress_92722.jpg\")
Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Washington, after a closed-door briefing about President Donald Trump directing U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)<\/p>\n![\"Sen.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Denmark_US_Greenland_86057.jpg\")
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., looks on during a press conference with the American delegation, consisting of senators and members of the House of Representatives, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Ida Marie Odgaard\/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)<\/p>\n![\"Protesters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US_Venezuela_03331_b027b0.jpg\")
Protesters rally in front of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife in a military operation. (AP Photo\/Jessica Phelps)<\/p>\n