Washington, D.C.; January 5th, 2026
When the President stepped in front of the cameras and took questions about Venezuela, the tone wasn’t tense, and it wasn’t triumphant in a chest-thumping way either; it sounded like a man explaining why something hard had to be done, and why it was done the way it was.
He confirmed that U.S. service members injured during the operation are in good condition, with calls already placed to them, and he described the moment plainly; helicopters coming in under fire, bullets flying, one aircraft taking damage and still making it home, and not a single American killed. Dangerous, yes; reckless, no. The emphasis stayed on discipline, precision, and the fact that everyone came back.
When pressed about who is running Venezuela right now, the President did not dodge the question. He answered it directly, even if the answer raised eyebrows.
“We’re in charge,” he said.
Not as a slogan, not as a threat, but as a statement of fact tied to what he described as a broken country, one he says cannot simply be handed off in its current condition. Inflation, collapsed infrastructure, oil facilities left to rot, and a population scattered across borders; in his words, the priority is repair before politics.
Elections, he said, will come, but not before the country is stabilized. Roads, bridges, oil infrastructure, and basic systems have to work first. The administration’s position is that holding elections in a collapsed state only guarantees another collapse.
On energy, the President was blunt. Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, much of it originally built with American expertise decades ago, has been allowed to decay. Pipes lying unused, facilities barely functioning, production far below capacity. He said major U.S. oil companies are prepared to invest billions to rebuild it, not with taxpayer money, but with private capital, with the stated goal of restoring production, lowering global prices, and generating revenue for Venezuelans themselves.
Asked whether this contradicted his earlier opposition to regime change and nation-building, the President drew a sharp distinction. Venezuela, he said, is not across the globe; it is in what he repeatedly called “our hemisphere.” Stability nearby matters differently than distant intervention, and energy security, drug trafficking, and migration make Venezuela’s collapse a regional problem, not an abstract one.
Throughout the exchange, the President returned to the same point again and again: this is about safety, not conquest. He framed the operation as the removal of what he called a narcoterrorist state that flooded drugs into the United States and exported gang violence outward. By his account, maritime drug trafficking has already dropped sharply, and he argued that taking the source seriously saves lives on both sides of the border.
The tone shifted noticeably when the discussion turned to Venezuelans themselves. The President repeatedly described the outcome as good news for ordinary people, especially those forced to flee the country in recent years. He spoke about Venezuelans living in the United States who want to return home to a functioning nation, not a failed one, and said the administration intends to see that opportunity restored.
He acknowledged the risks, admitted a second military wave had been prepared if needed, and said U.S. forces remain ready, but emphasized that cooperation on the ground has so far made further action unnecessary.
When asked to summarize Operation Absolute Resolve in a single phrase, the President did not cite oil, power, or politics.
He called it “peace on earth.”
Whether one agrees with that framing or not, the administration’s position is clear: this is a turning point, not an occupation, a repair job before a handoff, and, in their telling, a chance for Venezuela to stand back up instead of staying down.
Sources
Primary First-Hand Sources
- THE WHITE HOUSE; Live press conference remarks and Q&A on Venezuela and Operation Absolute Resolve, January 2026, official White House YouTube channel
Appalachian Post 
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