John Bolton, who worked as Trump’s national security adviser in the past, said he thinks the president does not understand what is happening in Venezuela after the U.S. captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.Bolton spoke on CNN News Central and talked about what should happen next in Venezuela.
He said opposition leader María Corina Machado and her party should lead the country. Bolton told host Kate Bolduan that Trump “is very confused about this.”“I don’t think he understands anything about what we just talked about,” he added, according to The Hill.
After the U.S. captured Maduro on Saturday, Trump told reporters that Machado does not have the support or respect of Venezuelans to lead the country. Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Trump said it would be very tough for her to be the leader. Machado left Venezuela last year after going into hiding following the 2024 election. Maduro claimed he won that election, but opposition vote counts and international observers said otherwise.
Trump and Bolton disagree on who should lead Venezuela
Machado said on Monday that she plans to return to her country as soon as possible. Trump has said the U.S. will run Venezuela until there is an orderly transition. The president’s stance on America running Venezuela sparked international reactions, with Beijing issuing a sharp warning about the situation.
He told reporters on Saturday that American oil companies will rebuild the country’s oil industry. Trump said the U.S. does not want someone else to take over and create the same problems Venezuela has had for many years.
Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, but it only produced 3.5 percent of the oil made by OPEC nations in 2024. Trump said that a group including Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller will make decisions about Venezuela.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty on to narco-terrorism and weapons charges in Manhattan federal court. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who has taken power after Maduro, asked the Trump administration to work with her government on Sunday.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers are already discussing which Caribbean nation could be next on the administration’s foreign policy agenda. She wrote on Instagram that the U.S. government should collaborate with them on cooperation and development while following international law.
She said President Trump and their peoples deserve peace and dialogue, not war. But Bolton said on Tuesday that Machado and Edmundo González, who she supported in the 2024 election, can provide stability, not Rodríguez and the remaining Maduro regime members. He said the administration is making a big mistake by rejecting Machado on Saturday and thinking they can negotiate with Delcy Rodríguez for a stable transition.
Published: Jan 7, 2026 04:45 pm