President Donald Trump all set to speak at a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, on January 9, 2026, in Washington. File Photo: AP/PTI
Trump describes himself as 'Acting President of Venezuela' in Truth Social post
The US president says he will control oil revenues and run Venezuela until a transition occurs, contradicting Secretary of State Marco Rubio's recent statement
In another highly provocative move, US President Donald Trump posted a photograph of himself on his social media site, Truth Social, with his designation listed as "Acting President of Venezuela".
This stands in direct contradiction to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement that the US has no intention of assuming Venezuela’s day-to-day governance and will permit the subordinates of the captured leader Nicolás Maduro to remain in leadership positions.
The post on Truth Social on Sunday (December 11) features Trump's official portrait along with the designation “Acting President of Venezuela, “Incumbent January 2026.” It also has his designation as the 45th and 47th President of the United States, who assumed office on January 20, 2025.
US will 'run Venezuela'
Earlier this month, the US carried out a “large-scale" strike against Venezuela, capturing Nicolas Maduro, who, along with his wife Cilia Flores, was flown to New York, where they were indicted on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges.
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Trump said last Sunday that the US will "run Venezuela "until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition. We can't take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn't have the interests of Venezuelans in mind." Venezuela's vice-president and oil minister, Delcy Rodriguez, was formally sworn in as the country's interim president last week.
Trump had said that the interim authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 million barrels of “high-quality, sanctioned oil” to the US, which will be sold at its market price.
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"That money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States! I have asked energy secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan immediately. It will be taken by storage ships and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States."
(With inputs from agencies)