State Dept official confirms ‘limited’ diplomatic team in Caracas to possibly restore US-Venezuela relations

FIRST ON FOX: A “limited number” of U.S. personnel are operating in Caracas as Washington looks to resume diplomatic relations with Venezuela after the historic capture of Nicolás Maduro, Fox News has learned.

A senior State Department official told Fox News that the Trump administration plan to resume official diplomacy with Venezuela is under way. This is the first time a State Department official has commented on reporting about the diplomatic team on the ground.

“A limited number of U.S. diplomatic and technical personnel are in Caracas conducting initial assessments for a potential phased resumption of operations,” the official said.

The official did not specify exactly what “a limited number” meant, and it is not immediately clear exactly how many people are on the ground. The phased resumption of operations would include the re-opening of the U.S. Embassy and consulate offices in Venezuela.

POST TRUMP MEETING, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS COUNTRY WILL HOLD ‘FREE AND FAIR’ ELECTIONS ‘EVENTUALLY’

Since Maduro was captured, the Trump administration has been cautious in its approach to Venezuela. President Donald Trump initially said that the U.S. would “run” the country for an undetermined period of time. 

Since then, Trump has met with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who he said he doubts has the support necessary to take over the country.

After her meeting with Trump, Machado spoke at a news conference hosted by the conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, in Washington, D.C. She said that Venezuela would hold “free and fair” elections “eventually.” However, she did not offer a timeline for how long the current interim government would be allowed to rule, only that elections would happen “as soon as possible.”

RUBIO LAYS OUT THREE-PHASE PLAN FOR VENEZUELA AFTER MADURO: ‘NOT JUST WINGING IT’

Machado also attempted to downplay the appearance of competition between herself and Maduro’s successor, interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, for Trump’s support.

“This has nothing to do with a tension or decision between Delcy Rodríguez and myself,” Machado said when asked about Trump’s openness to working with the interim government. “This is about a criminal structure that is a regime and the mandate of the Venezuelan people.”

On Jan. 15, Rodriguez, who was sworn-in as Venezuela’s interim president following the capture of Maduro, met with CIA Director John Ratcliffe. A U.S. official told CBS News that the purpose of the meeting was to “deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship.”

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Rodriguez’s meeting with Ratcliffe took place one day after she had a phone call with Trump, who said the conversation was “very good.”

“We are making tremendous progress, as we help Venezuela stabilize and recover. Many topics were discussed, including oil, minerals, trade and, of course, national security,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This partnership between the United States of America and Venezuela will be a spectacular one FOR ALL. Venezuela will soon be great and prosperous again, perhaps more so than ever before!”

Kaine wants to rein in Trump’s war powers, but never did the same for Biden, Obama

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has time and again pushed to rein in President Donald Trump’s war authorities, but he has rarely gone to the same lengths for his own party’s presidents.

Kaine’s argument has stayed fairly consistent over the years that Congress should reassert its constitutional authority and decision-making in the run-up to a military conflict. And he has either led or joined several pushes over Trump’s non-consecutive terms in office to corral his war powers.

But he never pulled the same kind of move under former Presidents Barack Obama or Joe Biden, causing Republicans to question whether his desires are politically motivated or genuine.

SECRETARY RUBIO SCHEDULED TO FACE FORMER COLLEAGUES ON VENEZUELA POLICY

There was not a single war powers resolution filed in the Senate during Obama’s time in office, but Kaine did push back on his expansive use of drones in the Middle East.

“I have been as consistent as I can be, because I really got in the way of President Obama when he wanted to use military action in Syria without congressional authorization,” Kaine said. “And I told him, you know, ‘You’re like my friend. But this is, you know, a basic principle for me.’”

His latest push to curb future military action in Venezuela without congressional approval nearly succeeded in the Senate but ultimately was killed through a rare procedural move coupled with an intense pressure campaign from Trump, his administration and Senate Republican leaders.

Before the first vote, which saw five Republicans peel from their colleagues to advance the resolution, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., contended that Kaine’s latest push “does not reassert Congress’ powers.”

“There are Democrats in this chamber who are using the arrest of Nicolás Maduro not to advance American interests, but to attack President Trump,” Barrasso said.

KAINE VOWS NEW WAR POWERS FIGHTS AFTER SENATE BLOCKS TRUMP VENEZUELA CHECK

And building off Barrasso’s sentiment was a broader argument from several Republicans, and top officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who charged that Kaine’s push was moot given that there were no boots on the ground in Venezuela and that the administration has no future plans for military action.

Republicans who may have been on the verge of supporting Kaine’s push argued that without a plan to beat an almost guaranteed veto from Trump, it was nothing more than a messaging tactic.

“It’s a messaging exercise, and I think that you’d have more credibility if, at least, you had some elements, like boots on the ground to justify it,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital.

“I mean, if somebody’s serious about getting something done, if you sit down with me and say, ‘I can get the 67 votes, so I have a veto-proof majority, and this is how I’m going to do it,’ that impresses me,” he continued.

Dating back to Trump’s first term in office, Kaine has either introduced or supported seven war powers resolutions. Each of those pushes — four of which he led — were all directed toward reining in Trump’s military authority and reasserting Congress’ oversight role.

However, he rejected two of three Republican-led war powers pushes during Biden’s presidency, and notably, voted for the same procedural move used to kill his own Venezuela resolution to nix another from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in 2024.

Cruz’s war powers resolution sought to curb Biden’s war authority as he pushed for the creation of a temporary pier on the coast of Gaza to deliver aid to the country.

KEY REPUBLICANS FLIP, KILL EFFORT TO RESTRAIN TRUMP’S POLICING POWER OVER VENEZUELA

Kaine argued there was a stark difference between humanitarian missions and military action in explaining his vote against Cruz’s resolution.

“That was because building a humanitarian pier is not hostilities, right? If that’s hostilities, the U.S. going to do tsunami relief is hostilities,” Kaine said.

“But you know what we’re doing in Venezuela is hostilities,” he continued. “It’s not building a pier for humanitarian aid. So, that was why I said the definition of hostility should not apply to humanitarian acts, OK? And I firmly believe that, and I’d vote for that under presidents of either party.”

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Still, Republicans countered that Kaine’s own war powers resolution was similarly void because there were no active or planned hostilities in the region.

“It’s pretty clear, war powers only applies if you’ve got boots on the ground,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital. “We don’t have boots on the ground in those locations that he’s talking about. And so I’m not sure what the reasoning is, but it appears to me to be unnecessary, and it certainly does not deserve to be privileged.”

Kaine has no intention of relenting on his war powers pursuit while Trump is in office and noted last week that he would file resolution after resolution to take a hammer to the cracks forming in the GOP’s mostly unified resistance against questioning the president’s war authorities.

That decision has not surprised many Republicans.

“I mean, he’s a Democrat, so he’s going to try and do messaging,” Tillis said. “I understand that — we do the same stuff.”

Secretary Rubio scheduled to face former colleagues on Venezuela policy

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to publicly testify on the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela in the Senate next week.

Returning to his old stomping grounds in the Senate has become fairly routine for Rubio over the last few months, particularly as lawmakers have demanded more transparency over the administration’s actions in Venezuela and the Caribbean.

And once again, Rubio will appear on the Hill when the Senate returns from recess next week, sources confirmed to Fox News Digital. He is scheduled to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Jan. 28 at 10 a.m.

KAINE VOWS NEW WAR POWERS FIGHTS AFTER SENATE BLOCKS TRUMP VENEZUELA CHECK

The hearing before the panel comes after Rubio acted as a key figure to convince a pair of holdouts — Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo. — to flip their votes and kill an attempt by Senate Democrats to rein in President Donald Trump’s war authorities last week.

Their primary concerns were that the administration would put boots on the ground in the region, and that Congress should have a say if that were the case.

GOP EYES VENEZUELA’S UNTAPPED OIL WEALTH AS DEMOCRATS SOUND ALARM OVER TAXPAYER RISK

Through assurances, guarantees and an agreement to publicly testify on the matter, Rubio appeared to win them over.

Young said at the time that he had to “accept that this was a communications exercise,” but noted that it was a moment used to “shine a bright light on Congress’ shortcomings as it relates to war powers in recent history.”

Rubio also wrote to Senate Foreign Relations Chair James Risch, R-Idaho, ahead of the vote last week to spell out that the administration would clue in Congress should any future military action take place in the region.

KEY REPUBLICANS FLIP, KILL EFFORT TO RESTRAIN TRUMP’S POLICING POWER OVER VENEZUELA

He then re-upped that same message to Young, where he said that should Trump “determine that he intends to introduce U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities in major military operations in Venezuela, he would seek congressional authorization in advance (circumstances permitting).”

Still, despite these guarantees to Republicans, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who sits on the committee, plans to continue his quest to corral Trump’s war authorities.

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Kaine said before lawmakers left Washington that he planned to “file every one I can to challenge emergencies, to challenge unlawful wars, to seek human rights reports, arms transfers if they’re wrong.”

US forces apprehend sanctioned vessel in Caribbean maritime operation targeting illicit oil transport

The Department of War announced Tuesday U.S. military forces apprehended another sanctioned tanker vessel in the Carribean as part of its mission to crush illicit activity in the Western Hemisphere.

U.S. Southern Command confirmed Motor Vessel Sagitta was apprehended earlier in the day without incident.

Video showed the vessel moving through the ocean with people on board the deck of the ship.

“The apprehension of another tanker operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean demonstrates our resolve to ensure that the only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” officials wrote in a statement on social media.

“As the joint force operates in the Western Hemisphere, we reaffirm that the security of the American people is paramount, demonstrating our commitment to safety and stability.”

The apprehension was part of #OpSouthernSpear, in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department.

The U.S. has now seized seven oil tankers since ramping up its campaign against illicit oil trade by Venezuela.

The vessels intercepted have either been under U.S. sanctions or part of a “shadow fleet” of unregulated ships that disguise their origins to move oil from major sanctioned producers, including Iran, Russia and Venezuela.

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Officials previously said the only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully.

UN chief accuses US of ditching international law as Trump blasts global bodies

United Nations (U.N.) Chief António Guterres warned that the U.S. has sidelined international law in favor of raw power — a sharp critique delivered in a BBC interview as President Donald Trump continues to question the value of such global institutions.

Guterres told BBC Radio 4 that U.S. foreign policy reflects what he described as a belief that “the power of law should be replaced by the law of power,” arguing that Washington increasingly relies on its influence rather than international norms.

“Indeed, when one sees the present policy of the United States, there is a clear conviction that multilateral solutions are not relevant and that what matters is the exercise of the power and the influence of the United States and sometimes, in this respect, by the norms of international law.”

His remarks follow recent U.S. intervention in Venezuela and Trump’s public insistence that the U.S. must own Greenland, as well as Trump’s long-standing skepticism toward the United Nations and other global bodies. 

TRUMP ADMIN WARNED TO TAKE FRONT SEAT AS UN CHIEF RACE SHIFTS LEFT, BOOSTING ANTI-US CONTENDERS

Guterres’ comments also come as parts of the U.N. are reducing their presence in the U.S. The U.N. Development Program Monday announced it will relocate nearly 400 New York–based positions to Europe, moving most of those jobs to Germany and Spain.

Trump repeatedly has questioned the value of the U.N., telling world leaders during the 2025 General Assembly that the organization “did not even try” to help end conflicts he claimed his administration resolved independently.

Guterres claimed the organization he leads was “extremely engaged” in trying to help bring an end to global conflicts but conceded “the big powers have stronger leverage” and admitted the organization struggles to compel compliance with its charter.

Critics of the U.N. have long argued that the body is ineffective, politically biased and disproportionately funded by the United States, while allowing rivals such as China and Russia to wield veto power on the Security Council.

TRUMP ORDERS US WITHDRAWAL FROM 66 ‘WASTEFUL’ GLOBAL ORGANIZATIONS IN SWEEPING ‘AMERICA FIRST’ CRACKDOWN

Guterres also renewed calls to reform the Security Council, arguing it no longer reflects the modern world and has become gridlocked by vetoes used to advance national interests — including by the U.S. and Russia in conflicts such as Ukraine and Gaza.

He was also critical of the fact that “three European countries” were permanent members, arguing the current composition does not “give voice to the whole world.”

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Trump took his own criticisms directly before the U.N. Security Council in September 2025. “Not only is the U.N. not solving the problems it should, too often, it is actually creating new problems for us to solve,” he said in a speech. 

“All they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter, and then never follow that letter up… empty words don’t solve war.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Guterres’ statements and has yet to receive a reply. 

From Caracas to Chicago: Trump’s Article II powers face their biggest tests yet

President Donald Trump has spent the bulk of his second White House term testing the limits of his Article II authorities, both at home and abroad – a defining constitutional fight that legal experts expect to continue to play out in the federal courts for the foreseeable future.

These actions have included the U.S. capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, who was deposed during a U.S. military raid in Caracas earlier this month, and Trump’s continued fight to deploy National Guard troops in Democrat-led localities, despite the stated objections of state and local leaders.

The moves have drawn reactions ranging from praise to sharp criticism, while raising fresh legal questions about how far a sitting president can go in wielding power at home and abroad.

Legal experts told Fox News Digital in a series of interviews that they do not expect Trump’s executive powers to be curtailed, at least not significantly or immediately, by the federal courts in the near-term.

TRUMP OUSTING OF MADURO DRAWS PARALLELS TO US RAID IN PANAMA – BUT THERE ARE SOME MAJOR CONTRASTS

Despite near-certain challenges from Maduro – who would likely argue any U.S. arrest in Venezuela is illegal, echoing Manuel Noriega’s failed strategy decades ago – experts say Trump’s Justice Department would have little trouble citing court precedent and prior Office of Legal Counsel guidance to justify his arrest and removal.

U.S. presidents have long enjoyed a wider degree of authority on foreign affairs issues – including acting unilaterally to order extraterritorial arrests. Like other U.S. presidents, Trump can cite guidance published in the late 1980s to argue Maduro’s arrest was made within the “national interest” or to protect U.S. persons and property.

Even if an arrest were viewed as infringing on another country’s sovereignty, experts say Trump could cite ample court precedent and longstanding Office of Legal Counsel and Justice Department guidance to argue the action was legally sound.

A 1989 memo authored by then-U.S. Assistant Attorney General Bill Barr has surfaced repeatedly as one of the strongest arguments Trump could cite to justify Maduro’s capture. That OLC memo states that “the president, pursuant to his inherent constitutional authority, can authorize enforcement actions independent of any statutory grant of power.” It also authorizes FBI agents to effectuate arrests ordered by the president under the “Take Care” clause of the U.S. Constitution, and says the authority to order extraterritorial arrests applies even if it impinges “on the sovereignty of other countries.”

Importantly, federal courts have read these powers to apply even in instances where Congress has not expressly granted statutory authorization to intervene.

DEFIANT MADURO DECLARES HE IS A ‘PRISONER OF WAR’ IN FIRST US COURT APPEARANCE

“When federal interests are at stake, the president, under Article II, has the power to protect them,” Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law, told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

That’s because Article II, at its core, is “the power for a U.S. president to protect [its] people,” Blackman said. 

“The reason why we detained Maduro was to effectuate an arrest. DOJ personnel and FBI agents were there to arrest him and read him his rights. And the reason why we used 150 aircraft, and all the other military equipment, was to protect the people who were going to arrest Maduro,” he added. “It was a law enforcement operation, but [with] military backing to protect them – so Article II does factor in here, indirectly.” 

Though Trump himself has not cited a legal justification for the invasion, senior administration officials have, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who described Maduro’s arrest respectively, as a mission to indict two “fugitives of justice,” and as a “joint military and law enforcement raid.”

In Minnesota, next steps for Trump are a bit more fraught. 

Trump’s National Guard deployment efforts were stymied by the Supreme Court in December, after the high court halted Trump’s National Guard deployments under Title 10. 

Trump had deployed the federalized troops to Illinois and Oregon last year to protect ICE personnel. But the high court issued an interim order rejecting Trump’s bid, noting that under Title 10, the administration could not federalize the National Guard until it first showed they tried to authorize the regular military to enforce the laws but could not do so. 

Some court watchers have noted that the ruling essentially closes off alternatives for Trump to act.

Instead, Trump could opt to enact his Article II “protective powers” domestically via a more sweeping and extreme alternative.

MIKE DAVIS: WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MINNESOTA IS WHY WE HAVE THE INSURRECTION ACT

This includes the use of the Insurrection Act to call up active-duty U.S. troops and order them deployed to Minnesota and elsewhere. 

The Insurrection Act is a broad tool that gives presidents the authority to deploy military forces in the U.S. when “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” make it “impracticable to enforce the laws.” 

Critics note it is a powerful, far-reaching statute that could grant Trump an expansive set of powers to act domestically in ways that are not reviewable by Congress or by the courts.

Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law professor and former U.S. Assistant Attorney General, noted this possibility in a recent chat with former White House counsel Robert Bauer. By “closing off this other statute,” he said, the Supreme Court “may have, some argue, driven the president in the direction of the Insurrection Act because this other source of authority was not available.”

Trump allies, for their part, have argued that the president has few other options at his disposal in the wake of the Supreme Court’s interim ruling.

Chad Wolf, the America First Policy Institute’s chair of homeland security and immigration, told Fox News Digital last week that Trump could have “little choice” but to invoke the Insurrection Act.  

“If the situation on the ground in Minneapolis continues to grow violent, with ICE officers being targeted and injured as well as other violent acts … Trump will have little choice,” he said. 

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Experts are split on to what degree there is a through-line between the two issues.

Blackman, the South Texas College of Law professor, said the “point of connection” in Trump’s actions is the presidential “power of protection” under Article II, which he said applies both abroad and at home. “The president can protect his law enforcement domestically, and he can protect his law enforcement abroad, both under Article II.”

Kaine vows new war powers fights after Senate blocks Trump Venezuela check

The latest bipartisan campaign to rein in President Donald Trump’s war authority in Venezuela may have failed, but the lawmaker behind the push has no intention of stopping his pursuit.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., plans to continue his goal of corralling Trump’s policing power across the globe, and believes that he can find support among Republicans to pass a war powers resolution out of the Senate.

“The other thing we’re going to do is this: We’re going to be filing a whole lot more war powers resolutions,” Kaine said after the unsuccessful vote to advance his resolution.

KEY REPUBLICANS FLIP, KILL EFFORT TO RESTRAIN TRUMP’S POLICING POWER OVER VENEZUELA

He argued that this resolution, though unable to make it out of the Senate this time, was similar to a war powers resolution he filed shortly after the strike ordered by Trump in 2020 that killed Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani.

The resolution garnered eight Republican votes in a GOP-controlled Senate at the time.

“When you do it, and you get Republican votes, it sends a message to the White House,” he said.

Kaine and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who co-sponsored the latest war powers resolution, previously suggested that later attempts to rein in Trump’s war authorities could be focused on Greenland, Iran and Cuba.

SENATE GOP MOVES TO BLOCK DEMS’ WAR POWERS PUSH, PRESERVE TRUMP’S AUTHORITY IN RARE MOVE

Kaine’s optimism comes from the successful vote to curtail Trump’s war powers in Venezuela earlier this month, where five Senate Republicans splintered from their colleagues to advance a resolution that would have required the president to confer with Congress before future military action in the region.

Still, that same cohort was unable to survive a pressure campaign from Senate Republican leadership, Trump and administration officials.

The two lawmakers who reversed their position, Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., did so because of guarantees from the administration, chiefly Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that no boots would be on the ground in Venezuela.

GOP EYES VENEZUELA’S UNTAPPED OIL WEALTH AS DEMOCRATS SOUND ALARM OVER TAXPAYER RISK

Young received the assurance from Rubio in a letter the day of the vote, when he said that should Trump “determine that he intends to introduce U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities in major military operations in Venezuela, he would seek congressional authorization in advance (circumstances permitting).”

Kaine said that while the outcome was disappointing, and Trump and Senate Republican leadership engaged in a “full-court press unlike any I’ve seen in 13 years here” to stop the resolution from succeeding, the cracks in the foundation were still there. And Kaine believed they were ripe to fracture even further.

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“The way cracks grow is through pressure and the pressure campaign that I sort of decided to launch by use of these privileged motions. I’m going to file every one I can to challenge emergencies, to challenge unlawful wars, to seek human rights reports, arms transfers if they’re wrong,” he said.

Warren launches probe into major banks over Trump Venezuela oil sales

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, and other Democratic senators have spearheaded an investigation into the role major U.S. banks will play in assisting the Trump administration sell Venezuelan oil.  

The inquiry comes after President Donald Trump announced that Venezuela’s interim government would hand over up to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S. and that the oil would be sold “immediately.” 

While Trump has said that he would control the proceeds of the sale, the Department of Energy also announced Jan. 7 that this would require “key banks to execute and provide financial support for these sales” and that proceeds would remain housed at “U.S. controlled accounts at globally recognized banks.” 

Likewise, Trump signed an executive order Jan. 9 “declaring a national emergency to safeguard Venezuelan oil revenue held in U.S. Treasury accounts from attachment or judicial process, ensuring these funds are preserved to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives.”

As a result, the lawmakers have raised concerns because the Trump administration did not share any details regarding which financial institutions would be involved — prompting concerns from them about transparency regarding the destination of the funds.

TRUMP ADMIN TO CONTROL VENEZUELAN OIL SALES IN RADICAL SHIFT AIMED AT RESTARTING CRUDE FLOW

It “appears that at least a portion of the oil proceeds will be held in the U.S. Treasury despite being the sovereign property of another country,” the lawmakers wrote. “It is unclear whether and to what extent the Administration still plans to direct some proceeds of oil sales into accounts held at banks in the private sector.”  

“Given that rapidly evolving situation and the Administration’s failure to provide clarity on its plans for Venezuela’s oil and the funds raised from oil sales, we write to you to seek answers to the following questions,” the lawmakers wrote. 

As a result, the lawmakers requested that the banks provide details on whether the Trump administration contacted them about becoming involved in the sale of Venezuelan oil or handling the proceeds of such sales, if they were solicited to provide financial or other kinds of support for the oil sales, if they are holding or plan to hold proceeds from Venezuelan oil sales in U.S.-controlled accounts, and all communications between the banks and administration officials regarding Venezuelan oil and military operations there.

MARTIN GURRI: LET’S LOOK AT ALL THE GLOBAL BENEFITS TRUMP REAPED BY GRABBING MADURO

The letters were sent to financial institutions including the Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, UBS and others. 

Bank of America and Goldman Sachs declined to provide comment to Fox News Digital, and UBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

The lawmakers are requesting answers from the bank by the end of January, and are also requesting the banks provide updates regarding their communication with the Trump administration on a monthly basis.

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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Trump announced on Jan. 3 that he had authorized strikes in Venezuela and that the U.S. had captured its dictator, Nicolás Maduro. He then said that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela until a peaceful transition could occur.