WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump issued a sharp warning to Venezuela's interim leader Delcy Rodriguez, saying Atlantic that “if she doesn’t do what’s right, she will have to pay a very big price, perhaps more than Maduro.”
Rodriguez served as vice president of Venezuela under President Nicolas Maduro. The country's Supreme Court said that she would immediately assume the role of acting president after US troops captured Maduro and brought him to the US.
Trump's comments mark a shift in rhetoric from a day earlier, when he told reporters that Rodriguez had a “cordial” conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“She had a long conversation with Marco and she said, 'We'll do whatever you need,'” Trump told reporters on Saturday. “I think she's been very kind, but she doesn't really have a choice. We're going to do this right.”
Later on Saturday, however, Rodriguez said Maduro was “the only president of Venezuela” and called for his “immediate release.”
Rubio said this in an interview ABC News This Week stated that “we do not believe that the current regime is legitimate through elections.”
“Ultimately, the legitimacy of their system of government will come through a transition period and real elections, which they did not have,” he later added.
For interview On NBC News' “Meet the Press,” Rubio said talk of a possible election in Venezuela would be “premature.”
On Saturday, Trump hinted at the possibility of future U.S. military strikes on Venezuela, telling reporters during a briefing that the U.S. is “ready to mount a second, much larger attack if we need to do that.”
Trump also said during the briefing that “we are rebuilding” Venezuela, adding: “We have to rebuild all of their infrastructure. The infrastructure is rotten.”
In an interview with The Atlantic that the publication said was conducted by phone Sunday morning, Trump again spoke about rebuilding the country.
“You know, the recovery there and the regime change, whatever you want to call it, is better than what you have now,” he told The Atlantic. “It can’t get any worse.”
The president also mentioned his ambitions to ensure U.S. control of Greenland, which is part of NATO ally Denmark.
“We absolutely need Greenland,” he told reporter Michael Scherer. “We need it for defense.”
Hours after the US military operation in Venezuela, Katie Miller, a right-wing podcast host and wife of Trump adviser Stephen Miller, also hinted at a new target in Greenland.
“COMING SOON,” she wrote in post on X featuring an image of the American flag overlaid on a map of Greenland.
Jesper Møller Sorensen, Danish Ambassador to the USA: responded to Miller's messagewriting, “Just a friendly reminder to the United States and the Kingdom of Denmark: we are close allies and must continue to work together as such.”
“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he wrote at the end of the post.
Just under a year ago, before he took office, Trump refused to assure the public that he would not use military force against Greenland and Panama.
“No, I can’t assure you on either of those two issues, but I can say this: We need them for economic security,” he said. he said at the timeanswering a reporter's question.
