A Russian submarine and other naval vessels have been deployed to escort a sanctioned tanker that has historically carried Venezuelan oil, as the U.S. continues its weeks-long pursuit of the ship, two U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the escort.

American forces are planning to intercept the Marinera tanker, which has been followed by the U.S. since last month, CBS News first reported on Monday. It's unclear where the U.S. plans stand now that Russian naval assets are being dispatched to escort the oil tanker, and it's not uncommon for military operations to be shelved entirely.

The pursuit began during a pressure campaign on former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was captured by U.S. forces last weekend. Two other oil tankers were seized by the U.S. last month.

The Marinera was previously flagged out of Panama, and like the other tankers that were seized, it was sanctioned by U.S. authorities for its prior involvement in Iranian oil trading. But it is now sailing under the Russian flag, which could complicate the situation given the U.S.'s delicate relationship with Russia.  

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado hailed President Trump for removing Nicolás Maduro from power and argued her coalition has a mandate to lead the country moving forward — even as Mr. Trump leaves doubts about whether Machado could take power herself.

Machado spoke to "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil in a network exclusive three days after the U.S. military captured Maduro, an operation Machado has strongly supported.

But Mr. Trump has declined to back Machado's movement. He said Saturday that it would be "very tough" for her to run Venezuela and doubted she has enough support within the country.

Pressed on why she believes Mr. Trump said that about her, Machado suggested there could be lingering worries about Venezuela's stability. She told CBS News that Venezuela "has been taken over by a criminal narcoterrorist system" backed by guerrilla groups and U.S. adversaries like Iran and Cuba, and "there is fear that these groups will resist a peaceful transition."

However, Machado said she believes "a wide majority of the military and police in Venezuela also support an orderly transition to democracy."

She continued: "I believe we have a united country."

Read more here.

María Corina Machado says the people of Venezuela have picked her opposition movement to lead the country after Maduro's ouster less than a week ago. 

Machado spoke with "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil in a network exclusive, saying, "We are ready and willing to serve our people, as we have been mandated."

The former legislator won a primary race to run against Maduro in Venezuela's 2024 presidential election. The government then banned her from running, but retired diplomat Edmundo González stepped in as a replacement. 

The U.S. and other governments recognized González as the winner after the Maduro government was accused of rigging the vote tallies.

Read the full article here.

Venezuelan authorities have agreed to give the U.S. between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil, President Trump said in a social media post Tuesday evening.

"I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president claimed that the oil would be sold at "Market Price," and that the revenue from those sales "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!"

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright would organize the process of transferring oil from Venezuela to the U.S., the president said. He didn't offer further details about where the oil would be coming from or who exactly authorized the transfer. The Venezuelan government didn't appear to respond to the president's post.

Mr. Trump said the oil will be taken by storage ships and "brought directly to unloading docks" in the U.S. 

One of President Trump's rationales for ordering the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was his claim that he trafficked drugs to the United States that led to overdose deaths of "countless Americans."

Experts who study drug trafficking told CBS News these claims are exaggerated. 

Venezuela plays a relatively limited role in bringing cocaine to the U.S. and has virtually no link to the trafficking of fentanyl — the synthetic opioid that causes most overdose deaths, experts say.

Read the full article here.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told G7 foreign ministers that the Venezuelan people will elect a "legitimate president" in the future, according to a summary of the meeting shared by the Canadian government.

Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand posted about the meeting, saying foreign ministers from the Group of Seven heard from Rubio on the importance of freeing political prisoners, putting into place conditions for a functioning democracy and planning for future elections.

Anand said Canada had opposed Maduro's regime "since it stole the 2018 election," and the country was now focused on supporting the "democratic will" of the Venezuelan people as well as regional and hemispheric stability. 

Two U.S. service members are still recovering from injuries sustained during the operation in Venezuela, according to a Pentagon official.

"They are receiving excellent medical care and are well on their way to recovery," the official told CBS News.

Five other service members injured in the operation have already returned to duty, the official said.

"The fact that this extremely complex and grueling mission was successfully executed with so few injuries is a testament to the expertise of our joint warriors," the official said.

The White House said Tuesday officials are discussing a wide range of options for acquiring Greenland, including using the U.S. military to take it by force.

Senior administration officials are also discussing possibly acquiring Greenland from Denmark or forming a compact of free association, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Reuters was first to report these developments. 

"President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it's vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region," Leavitt said. "The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander in chief's disposal."

Read more here.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was dissatisfied with the classified briefing top Trump administration officials gave to key leaders in Congress on Monday.

Schumer said the administration has done Step 1 in taking out Maduro, but "they have no idea what steps 2 through 10 are going to be, which gives all of us a great deal of worry."

The top Democrat from New York said he asked how many American troops are being sent to Venezuela and how long the U.S. will be in charge in Venezuela. "They don't know," he said. Schumer said he also didn't get answers about how much the operation in Venezuela will cost and which country will come next.

During the U.S. operation in Caracas, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were injured trying to escape to their safe room, according to a senior military official and a source familiar with Monday's congressional briefing.

Special operations forces threw flash-bangs into the area where they were found.

When U.S. authorities arrested the couple, they were already bleeding.

In court Monday, attorneys for both Maduro and his wife requested that health and medical issues be attended to for their clients.

Flores' attorney said that "during her abduction," she "sustained significant injuries," including bruised ribs. He requested that she receive a medical evaluation. Maduro's lawyer also made a request regarding health and medical issues on behalf of Maduro.

Journalists in the courtroom observed visible bruising and bandages on Flores' head.

María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela's opposition party, said interim president Delcy Rodríguez was "one of the main architects" tof he oppressive regime of Nicholas Maduro.

"Everybody in Venezuela and abroad knows perfectly who she is and the role she has played," Machado said in an interview with Tony Dokoupil airing Tuesday night on "CBS Evening News."

Rodríguez, Maduro's vice president, was sworn in as the interim president on Monday after Maduro was captured and taken to the United States. The Venezuelan military has expressed their support for Rodríguez.

Read more here.

Why does the United States want control of Greenland? President Trump has made it clear that he thinks the U.S. needs to control the Arctic island to ensure the security of America and its NATO allies, a point those allies — and Greenland — vehemently disagree with.

But there's more at play here, including a valuable shipping route and access to mineral resources.

Read more here.

The Venezuelan military posted a tribute video on social media for soldiers who were killed in the U.S. operation in Venezuela, and said there were 24 deaths.

The tribute showed a heart-shaped montage made up of pictures of soldiers.

The new development brings the total number of personnel killed in the U.S. operation to at least 56. The Cuban government had previously said that 32 Cubans, including military or intelligence personnel, were killed during the operation.

Cuba said in a statement Sunday they were "killed in combative actions," and that they were "serving missions on behalf of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, at the request of counterpart bodies of the South American country."

Colombia's Foreign Affairs Minister Rosa Villavicencio said Tuesday she will meet with the U.S. embassy's Charge D'Affaires in Bogota to present him with a formal complaint over the recent "threats" issued by the U.S. against Colombia.

Mr. Trump said on Sunday he wasn't ruling out an attack on Colombia and described its president, who has been an outspoken critic of U.S. operations in Venezuela, as a "sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States."

At a news conference, the Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister said, however, that she's hoping to strengthen relations with the U.S. and improve cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking, echoing comments made Monday by several members of Colombia's cabinet.

"It is necessary for the Trump administration to know in more detail, about all that we are doing in the fight against drug trafficking," Villavicencio said. 

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is looking at whether a state criminal case can be built against Maduro for sending criminals to the state of Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday at a news conference in Clearwater, Florida.

"He would empty his prisons and send them to America, across the border, and we'd end up with some of these people in Florida," DeSantis said. "So, to me, that is a very hostile act, so we're looking at statues to see."

Florida's Venezuelan population of under a half million people is the largest among any U.S. state. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters he's confident there is a plan for how the U.S. is going to operate in Venezuela following a briefing Monday night.

"But, you know, the next few days are going to be key in what happens there in terms of, you know, sort of the government structure and, you know, how willing they are to work with the U.S.," Thune said. "I think that's going to be really key here."

Thune added, "if it's ends up being, you know, Rodriguez, I'm told that she's a practical person, pragmatic person, and will understand the importance of figuring out a path forward to where America's national security priorities can be prioritized by Venezuela and they can work with us in a constructive way."

"I hope that happens," he said.  

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her morning press briefing Tuesday, "Now that President Maduro has been detained, what we are asking for is a fair trial, as always," after once again condemning the U.S. intervention in Venezuela.

The leftist leader has been incredibly diplomatic in navigating larger regional geopolitical tensions, seeking to maintain a strong relationship with Mr. Trump while also firmly opposing American intervention in the region.

When asked by journalists, Sheinbaum described Maduro's declaration that he was innocent in a New York court as "interesting." 

Speaking to the House Republican retreat at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Mr. Trump boasted about the might of the U.S. military after the operation that resulted in Maduro's capture in Venezuela.

"The United States proved once again that we have the most powerful, most lethal, most sophisticated and most fearsome, it's a fearsome military, on planet Earth, and it's not even close," the president said Tuesday. "You know, I've been saying it for a long time - nobody can take us."

"Nobody could have done that," he added. "Nobody has our weapons. Nobody has the quality of our weapons." 

Vente Venezuela, an opposition party led by María Corina Machado, has called for the release of political prisoners in a statement shared on X, which Machado reposted.

"The time has come to free the political prisoners, restore the truth, and ensure that justice prevails over impunity," the statement read in part. It was translated from Spanish.

All senators are invited to a briefing on Venezuela on Wednesday at 10 a.m. in a secure Senate location, according to a Senate source.

Rubio, Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will brief members, the Senate source said. 

Democratic senators in particular have been pushing for the full Senate to be briefed immediately.

The briefing will take place in a sensitive compartmented information facility or SCIF, a secure location where no phones are allowed.  

The U.S.' biggest strategic adversaries quickly condemned President Trump's decision to order U.S. strikes on Venezuela and the raid to capture now-former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. China, Russia and Iran all called it a violation of Venezuela's sovereignty and international law. Cuba, just south of the U.S. and a close ally of Caracas, also condemned the attack as Mr. Trump predicted his decisions could lead to the collapse of the government in Havana.

As all of those countries had maintained close economic and political ties with the Maduro regime, the dramatic, unilateral U.S. action is likely to have some impact on them, and while that impact may not be tremendous financially in all cases, the message sent by Mr. Trump could be just as important.

"What I think is clear is that we're entering a new phase of great power competition," Ryan C. Berg, the director of the Americas Program and head of the Future of Venezuela Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CBS News. "Some of the rules, some of the unthinkables, some of the things that we wouldn't have previously imagined being part of the operation are now on the table as options."

Read more here.

The United States is now showing it has "military dominance in its backyard and more broadly," Ian Bremmer, the Eurasia Group's president and founder, said Tuesday on "CBS Mornings." 

He said that militarily, no one is able to "hit" President Trump back, "and he showed that very clearly with an extraordinary mission, successful mission, to bring Maduro back to the United States just over the weekend," Bremmer said. 

"And countries across the region, as well as America's top allies in Europe, are deeply concerned about what that change applying 'American First' policy to the rest of the world is going to mean for them," he said.

In a report published Tuesday, the Eurasia Group, a political risk research firm, ranked Mr. Trump's "Donroe Doctrine" – the Trump administration's approach to foreign policy – as a "top risk" for 2026. The administration's "posture will heighten the risk of policy overreach and unintended consequences," the report says.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona on Tuesday criticized the Trump administration for its approach to the Venezuela operation, saying "this president ran on getting us out of foreign conflicts and he's doing the exact opposite of that."

"I would like to understand from him, why the change?" Kelly said on "CBS Mornings."

Kelly said among his questions for the administration include, "Are we now in the business of regime change, and what's next?"

"When you consider when this started, this was about fentanyl coming in on boats from Venezuela, and then the administration suddenly figures out, 'well, it's actually not fentanyl, cocaine comes on these routes,' and by the way, not to the United States — mostly to Europe," Kelly said. "And then this became about regime change, and that was about oil and then it was back to regime change. I mean, they can't even get their story straight on this."

Kelly said the thing that "I really, really worry about" is what could come next.

"Now, Donald Trump is talking about maybe overthrowing the leadership of Colombia, who's an ally of ours," Kelly said. "That's different than Venezuela. Or maybe Cuba, Greenland. I mean, is he going to bring up Canada again at this point?"

The Arizona Democrat said he "wasn't really concerned about the Greenland thing again until this week, until he seems to be serious about going after a NATO ally of ours. That would blow up the entire NATO alliance."

On Congress' role, Kelly said "I think Republicans in Congress have ceded their constitutional power, their authority to this White House. Very few of them will stand up to this president." 

European leaders issued a joint statement Tuesday in the face of renewed calls by President Trump for a U.S. takeover of Greenland.

"Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland," reads the statement from the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the U.K. and Denmark.

It says Arctic security remains a key priority for Europe, is critical for international and transatlantic security, and must "be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders."

"These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them," the statement said.

Earlier, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she is planning to return to Venezuela "as soon as possible."

The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner left Venezuela for Norway last month in secret as her daughter accepted the peace prize in Oslo on her behalf.  

In an interview Monday with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Machado said she makes a decision every day about where she is "more useful for our cause."

"That's why I stayed in hiding for over 16 months, and that's why I decided to go out. Because I believed that at this moment I'm more useful to our cause being able to speak out from where I am right now," she said.

Her current whereabouts haven't been disclosed.

She thanked President Trump on behalf of the Venezuelan people for the U.S. action in Venezuela, calling it a huge step toward a democratic transition.

"January 3rd will go down in history as the day justice defeated a tyranny," she said. "It's a milestone and it's not only huge for the Venezuelan people and their future. I think it's a huge step for humanity, for freedom and human dignity."

She said she last spoke with Mr. Trump on Oct. 10, the same day the peace prize was announced. 

The United Nations voiced deep concern Tuesday over the operation in Venezuela, warning that it clearly "undermined a fundamental principle of international law."

"States must not threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state," Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the U.N. rights office, told reporters in Geneva.

She also said military intervention makes every country less safe and "sends a signal that the powerful can do whatever they like," Reuters reported.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday that he remains "deeply concerned that rules of international law have not been respected" in regard to the operation.

—CBS/AFP 

President Trump told NBC News on Monday that it could take some time before Venezuela can hold elections to replace Maduro, saying, "we have to nurse the country back to health" first.

"We have to fix the country first. You can't have an election. There's no way the people could even vote," the president told the outlet.

In the meantime, Mr. Trump said, a group of U.S. officials will be involved with overseeing Venezuela. The president has said his administration will "run" Venezuela, though it's not clear how extensive U.S. control over the country will be. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" the administration primarily plans to maintain economic leverage over Venezuela by restricting oil exports.

Members of Maduro's regime are still in charge for now, with Maduro's handpicked vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, serving as interim president. Mr. Trump told The Atlantic that "if she doesn't do what's right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro."

Top Trump administration officials briefed leading members of Congress on the Venezuela operation on Monday, and lawmakers' reactions fell along familiar partisan lines.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters the classified briefing, which included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, "posed far more questions than it ever answered."

"Their plan for the U.S. running Venezuela is vague, based on wishful thinking and unsatisfying," the New York Democrat said, adding that it's unclear if similar operations will be tried in other countries.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson said the operation was a "decisive and justified action," adding that Maduro led a "criminal organization masquerading as a government."

"Now, he has learned what accountability looks like," the Louisiana Republican added.

Some Democrats have argued the operation wasn't legal because it lacked congressional approval. Schumer said he will push for a vote to block further military action in Venezuela. And Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters: "It seems at every turn, Donald Trump is trying to figure out how he avoids Congress."

Republicans have largely defended the president. Johnson argued the administration acted within its authority because "we are not at war" and "we are not occupying that country."

Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters he doesn't believe the operation needed congressional approval, saying it was limited in scope and "done before breakfast."

Representatives from petroleum giants Chevron, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil are planning to meet with the Trump administration later this week to discuss Venezuela, two sources confirmed to CBS News.

The meeting is expected to take place Wednesday with Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who is attending the Goldman Sachs Energy Conference in Miami, a Department of Energy spokesperson said.

The meetings come as President Trump pushes U.S. oil companies to invest in Venezuela's oil industry. Mr. Trump also told NBC News that oil companies could be reimbursed by the U.S. in some way if they return to Venezuela.

"A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then they'll get reimbursed by us or through revenue," Mr. Trump said.

He predicted that oil production could start ramping up in 18 months or less.

Some experts have predicted that it could take a while for foreign oil firms to enter Venezuela, considering the high cost and political uncertainty.

Under heavy guard, former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown from a federal jail in Brooklyn to Manhattan on Monday morning to make their first court appearance since being captured by U.S. forces over the weekend.

Surrounded by Drug Enforcement Agency agents, the shackled Maduro shuffled from the helicopter to an armored vehicle, and was then driven to a federal courthouse, where he was greeted by the New York City Police Department and protesters — on one side of the street were those cheering Maduro's downfall, and on the other were those opposing his capture and detention.

Inside the courtroom, Maduro, clad in a prison jumpsuit, was initially defiant, declaring through a translator that he is a "decent man," innocent of all charges.

"I am still president of my country," he said. Meanwhile in Caracas, Maduro's vice president and longtime confidant Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president.

Both Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty.

At one point, it seemed Maduro was trying to grandstand, but U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein cut him off, like he would anyone, saying he just needed to know Maduro's identity and if he understood his rights and the charges against him.

Read more here.

With former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in custody in New York, his former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez — a Maduro loyalist and leading figure within the regime for nearly eight years — has been sworn in as the acting president of Venezuela.

Since Maduro's ouster, Rodríguez is striking a delicate balance, telling the U.S. she wants lasting cooperation while also telling Venezuelans she condemns Maduro's capture as a kidnapping.

Meanwhile, opposition leader María Corina Machado applauded Maduro's capture — but she remains out of power.

Asked why Machado was not put in charge, Mr. Trump on Saturday said she lacks the support and respect of the Venezuelan people needed to lead them.

Read more here.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed new details Monday about the U.S. operation to capture and arrest Nicolás Maduro, describing a meticulously planned raid that caught the Venezuelan leader completely off guard.

Speaking to sailors, Hegseth said Maduro had no warning the U.S. was closing in until moments before American forces arrived.

"Nicolás Maduro got to meet some great Americans wearing night vision goggles three nights ago," Hegseth said. "He didn't know they were coming until three minutes before they arrived. In fact, his wife said, 'I think I hear aircraft outside.' They didn't know. You know why? Because every single part of that chain did their job."

Roughly 200 Americans carried out the overnight raid Saturday at Maduro's residence in downtown Caracas, Hegseth said. Fighter jets and bombers struck Venezuelan air defenses, clearing the way for Delta Force commandos to close in on the compound, where they came under heavy fire.

"They got off the helicopter, and the bullets were flying all over the place," President Trump told reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One. "As you know, one of the helicopters got hit pretty badly, but we got everything back."

Read more here.