WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet on Thursday with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado at the White House after U.S. military forces captured deposed President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise raid earlier this month.
Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize in October and dedicated the award to Trump, who has been very public about his desire to receive the honor.
In 2024, Machado defeated Maduro in a primary race for the presidential election but was barred by the Maduro regime from running in the general presidential election, leading her to go into hiding. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf for her resistance against Maduro.
Trump dismissed the idea of putting Machado in charge of the Venezuelan government after Maduro’s capture, saying that she doesn’t have the support necessary to be an effective leader.
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” he told reporters during a news conference. “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect to be a leader.”
Instead, Trump selected Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to lead the country. However, he threatened that she could face greater consequences than Maduro if she failed to align with the Trump administration’s plans for the country.
Trump said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
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“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump told reporters. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
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