Marco Rubio testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to be Secretary of State, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 15, 2025.
Rubio's prepared testimony also maintained that there are no U.S. troops in Venezuela, and that the operation did not amount to waging a war in Caracas.
"There is no war against Venezuela, and we did not occupy a country," Rubio said in his prepared remarks. "There are no U.S. troops on the ground. This was an operation to aid law enforcement."
The move to ouster Maduro has attracted scrutiny, mostly from Democrats, who have called into question the legality of the operation in Venezuela, which was conducted without Congress' approval.
But efforts in Congress to pass a war powers resolution that would have limited the Trump administration from conducting additional military action in Venezuela failed to pass earlier in January. Rubio previously has claimed Congressional approval wasn’t required because the operation was not an "invasion."
On Wednesday, Rubio said that should U.S. military forces be involved in Venezuela in a "sustained" way, Congress would receive notification 48-hours after the fact, and would be required to receive Congressional approval if the engagement lasted longer than 60 days.
Rubio also told lawmakers that Congress wasn't consulted about the potential raid due to concerns from the Department of War about leaks, and because it wasn't even a possibility to execute such a mission until late December 2025 after all negotiation efforts with Maduro had failed.
"It was also a trigger-based operation. It may never have happened," Rubio said. "It required a number of factors to all align at the right place, at the right time, in a very limited window, and it wasn't even clear if it was ever going to be possible."
Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad, escorted by heavily armed Federal agents as they make their way into an armored car en route to a Federal courthouse in Manhattan on January 5, 2026 in New York City. (XNY/Star Max/GC Images via Getty Images)
Since Maduro’s capture, the U.S. has conducted at least one additional strike against alleged drug trafficking vessels in the region.
The Trump administration had previously asserted that it did not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state and instead, claimed he was the leader of a drug cartel. Additionally, Trump said in December 2025, shortly before the operation, that he believed it would be "smart" for Maduro to step down.
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The Trump administration has so far backed Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, to lead Venezuela’s interim government.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rubio-says-us-has-no-plan-use-force-venezuela-warns-imminent-threat-could-change