{"id":676681,"date":"2026-01-06T01:55:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676681\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T01:55:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:55:15","slug":"venezuela-live-updates-trump-officials-are-grilled-by-congress-on-raid-after-maduro-pleads-not-guilty-in-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676681\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela live updates: Trump officials are grilled by Congress on raid after Maduro pleads not guilty in court"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Watch: Stephen Miller says Venezuela needs U.S. ‘permission’ to run economy<\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin6 January 2026 01:40<\/p>\n

<\/a>Stephen Miller says U.S. is ‘in charge’ of Venezuela <\/p>\n

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has said the U.S. is \u201cin charge\u201d of Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy definition, we are in charge because we have the United States military stationed outside the country. We set the terms and conditions. We have a complete embargo on all of their oil and their ability to do commerce,\u201d he told CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper Monday. <\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin6 January 2026 01:20<\/p>\n

<\/a>Watch: Pete Hegseth says nearly 200 troops had been to Caracas in Venezuela operation<\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin6 January 2026 01:00<\/p>\n

<\/a>Senate leader Thune says notification of Venezuela operation was ‘sufficient’<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said the Trump administration\u2019s notification of its operation in Venezuela to capture deposed President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was \u201csufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt that the notification [of the Venezuela strikes], considering the scope of the mission, was sufficient for me,\u201d he told reporters. <\/p>\n

Maduro\u2019s capture was completed without authorization from Congress. President Donald Trump says lawmakers were left in the dark out of fear someone would leak details about the operation.<\/p>\n

Senate Democrat Mark Warner told Scripps News that high-profile members of Congress should have been notified in advance. <\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin6 January 2026 00:40<\/p>\n

<\/a>Watch: Chuck Schumer says Trump has ‘opened a Pandora’s box’ with Venezuela operation<\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin6 January 2026 00:20<\/p>\n

<\/a>Hakeem Jeffries sends warning to Trump administration about military action in Venezuela<\/p>\n

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries warned the Trump administration against taking further military action in Venezuela without Congressional approval. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo further military action should be taken in Venezuela or anywhere else without explicit Congressional approval,\u201d Jefferies told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n

The capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was completed without authorization from Congress. President Donald Trump says lawmakers were left in the dark out of fear someone would leak details about the operation. <\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin6 January 2026 00:00<\/p>\n

<\/a>Watch: Republican Rep. Jim Jordan asked if U.S. should run Venezuela<\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin5 January 2026 23:40<\/p>\n

<\/a>Trump officials brief Congress on Venezuela operation<\/p>\n

Top officials from the Trump administration, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, are briefing Congressional leaders on the military operation in Venezuela that led to the capture of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. <\/p>\n

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said in a rare joint statement that there was \u201cno legitimate basis\u201d to keep them from the closed-door meeting. <\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump and Secretary Rubio have stated that this was a law enforcement operation that was made at the Department of Justice\u2019s (DOJ) request, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The Senate Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over DOJ, FBI and DEA, and all three agencies are led by individuals who our Committee vetted and processed,\u201d the two senators said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no legitimate basis for excluding the Senate Judiciary Committee from this briefing. The administration\u2019s refusal to acknowledge our Committee\u2019s indisputable jurisdiction in this matter is unacceptable and we are following up to ensure the Committee receives warranted information regarding Maduro\u2019s arrest,\u201d the statement continued. <\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin5 January 2026 23:20<\/p>\n

<\/a>Watch: Republican Rep. Jim Jordan says he trusts Trump with Venezuela operation <\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin5 January 2026 23:00<\/p>\n

<\/a>Hakeem Jeffries pushes back on Trump admin’s claims about Maduro capture<\/p>\n

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pushes back on the Trump administration\u2019s claims that the capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was a \u201claw enforcement action.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was military action, not a law enforcement action,\u201d Jeffries told reporters Monday. <\/p>\n

Maduro was indicted by the Justice Department in 2020 on drug charges, which he pleaded not guilty to Monday. <\/p>\n

Rachel Dobkin5 January 2026 22:40<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watch: Stephen Miller says Venezuela needs U.S. ‘permission’ to run economy Rachel Dobkin6 January 2026 01:40 Stephen Miller…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-676681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115845668663789366","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}