U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday the United States would continue to oversee its involvement in Venezuela "until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," signaling an open-ended U.S. role.
"We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," Trump told a press conference, adding that US forces were ready to conduct a second, "much bigger" wave of strikes if necessary.
Trump said he would allow American oil companies to head into Venezuela to tap its massive crude reserves after a US military operation to seize the country's leader Nicolas Maduro.
"We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country," Trump told a press conference.
Trump expressed doubt as to whether Venezuela's opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, can run that country, saying she does not have the support or respect of the people.
Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida that he has not been in touch with Machado after the overnight arrest of President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump said he was frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the continued war in Ukraine. "I'm not thrilled with Putin. He's killing too many people," Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
