US, Russia and Ukraine to hold trilateral talks in UAE, Zelenskyy says

(NEW YORK) — In the wake of the dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, and the “large scale strike” by the U.S. on the country, questions abound about how the U.S. might run a country of 31 million people.

President Donald Trump stunned and alarmed many by announcing not only Maduro’s ouster, but saying that the U.S. would “run” the country temporarily, a statement that drew sharp criticism from some Democratic lawmakers and others about a new and complex foreign entanglement.

Retired Marine Corps colonel and former State Department official Steve Ganyard, an ABC News contributor, told “Good Morning America” that American involvement could go on for a “very long time.”

“The trick here will be to not disturb the underlying structure of Venezuelan society … to find somebody that will come in, provide just enough stability to lead to what hopefully will be free and fair elections,” Ganyard said.

Ganyard also said the U.S. military force that is in place is not equipped “to put boots on the ground,” if the interim government does not go along with American interests. “Those options at this point are very, very limited,” he said.

Trump expressed skepticism about not only Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, but also other leaders in the country, due to their connection to Maduro.

The Venezuelan Supreme Court on Saturday directed the country’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, to assume the presidency, citing the “exceptional situation created by the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro Moros.”

In an address on Saturday, Rodriguez called for Maduro’s “immediate release.”

“The people must go to the streets, the armed forces must deploy across the country, and all institutions must activate — to defend what we are, as sons and daughters of Simon Bolivar,” she said during the address, in Spanish.

The statements appeared to be at odds with the characterization of her position by President Trump, who indicated that in a call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Rodriguez said “she’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”

“She had a long conversation with Marco, and she said, “We’ll do whatever you need.” She, I think she was quite gracious, but she really doesn’t have a choice. We’re going to have this done right,” Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday.

Rubio, for his part, reserved judgment about Rodriguez’s comments. “We’re going to make decisions based on their actions and their deeds in the days and weeks to come,” he said in an interview with The New York Times.

ABC News has reached out to the State Department for comment.

During an appearance Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Rubio said that the administration was not recognizing Rodríguez as the current legitimate leader in Venezuela.

“We don’t believe that this regime in place is legitimate via an election,” Rubio said.

The implications of Trump’s pronouncement that the U.S. was going to “run” Venezuela were not immediately clear.

The president suggested during his press conference Saturday that some of his Cabinet officials could undertake the task in coordination with a team of people in Venezuela. He also did not rule out “boots on the ground” from the American military.

“We can’t take a chance of letting somebody else run it and just take over what he left, left off, so we’re making that decision now,” Trump said. “We’ll be involved in it very much. And we want to do liberty for the people.”

Trump also said that the opposition leader, Machado, does not have the “respect” needed to run the country. Political analysts interviewed by ABC News rejected Trump’s assessment of Machado.

A U.S. official said the Trump administration would engage diplomatically with the remainder of the Venezuelan government, engage with oil executives to rebuild the infrastructure, that the American military would remain at the ready, that the oil embargo would remain in place and the administration would continue to dismantle cartels. Beyond that, the plan was not immediately clear.

On “This Week” Sunday, when pressed on whether the U.S. was in charge of Venezuela right now, Rubio said that what the U.S. was “running” was the “direction” of the situation.

“What we are running is the direction that this is going to move moving forward. And that is we have leverage,” Rubio added. 

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(WASHINGTON) — The FBI conducted a search of a Washington Post reporter’s home Wednesday morning in search of alleged classified information, according to the newspaper.

The reporter, Hannah Natanson, was at her home in Virginia when FBI agents knocked on her door to execute the search warrant, the newspaper reported.

Agents seized a phone, two laptop computers – one of which was issued to her by the Washington Post – and a Garmin watch, according to the paper.

Investigators told Natanson that the warrant was part of an ongoing investigation into Aurelio Perez-Lugones, according to the newspaper. Perez-Lugones, whom an FBI affidavit describes as a government contractor, was charged in federal court in Maryland last week for alleged unlawful retention of national defense information, according to the affidavit.   

Natanson was informed by investigators that she is not the focus of the probe, the newspaper said, adding that she “covers the federal workforce.”

The FBI did not respond to an ABC News request for information about the search. However, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post Wednesday that the FBI “executed a search warrant of an individual at the Washington Post who was found to allegedly be obtaining and reporting classified, sensitive military information from a government contractor – endangering our warfighters and compromising America’s national security. The alleged leaker was arrested this week and is in custody.”

“[A]t the request of the Department of War, the Department of Justice and FBI executed a search warrant at the home of a Washington Post journalist who was obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor. The leaker is currently behind bars,” Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X Wednesday morning.

“I am proud to work alongside Secretary Hegseth on this effort. The Trump Administration will not tolerate illegal leaks of classified information that, when reported, pose a grave risk to our Nation’s national security and the brave men and women who are serving our country,” Bondi’s statement continued.

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(WASHINGTON) — Florida Democrat Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigned from Congress on Tuesday afternoon, just before she was to face a House Ethics Committee sanction hearing.

The committee was set to hold a rare public hearing to determine what sanction would be appropriate for it to recommend to the full House against Cherfilus-McCormick.

Last month, Cherfilus-McCormick was found guilty of 25 House ethics violations, including acceptance of improper campaign contributions and commingling of campaign and personal funds. The congresswoman was indicted in November 2025 by a federal grand jury on charges of stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, which she is accused of laundering to support her successful 2021 congressional campaign.

Cherfilus-McCormick has denied wrongdoing, excusing the allegations as an accounting error.

In her resignation announcement, the congresswoman called the process a “witch hunt.”

“By going forward with this process while a criminal indictment is pending, the Committee prevented me from defending myself,” she said. “I simply cannot stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled on, and my good name to be tarnished.”

Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest read out loud the congresswoman’s resignation letter after the committee briefly convened and said the committee had lost jurisdiction over Cherfilus-McCormick with her resignation.

“I will tell you that the committee has worked diligently to investigate this matter, that this was not a rush to judgment, as some would claim, that this was a very deliberate process to gather information into allegations that were extremely serious and extremely complicated,” Guest said.

Ranking Democrat Mark DeSaulnier told the committee, “Nobody’s happy. I don’t think any of us are happy at what we’ve gone through, but I am extremely proud of being associated with all of you.”

She is the third member of the House to resign in a week, following Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas and Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who were accused of sexual misconduct and were about to face efforts by their colleagues to have them expelled.

Expelling a member of the House is a rare occurrence. A two-thirds majority is required to remove a member.

Only six House members in U.S. history have been expelled from the lower chamber. Former New York Republican Rep. George Santos was the most recent lawmaker expelled from the House in 2023.

The committee could have recommended a range of sanctions, including expulsion, censure, reprimand, fine — and even denial or limitation of any right, according to House rules. The House may punish its members and may expel its members by a two-thirds vote, according to Article 1, Section 5 of the Constitution.

The sanction recommendation against Cherfilus-McCormick was expected to be announced in writing after the hearing. Afterward, the panel was to break into executive session to conclude its deliberations and reach a judgment.

Before Cherfilus-McCormick announced her resignation, Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube said he would move to force a vote to try to expel the congresswoman following the sanction hearing. Steube was expected to make the expulsion resolution privileged, which required Speaker Mike Johnson to hold a vote on the matter within two legislative days.

The speaker signaled last week that expelling Cherfilus-McCormick over her alleged crimes would be “appropriate.”

Though he initially insisted that Democrats would not help Republicans expel Cherfilus-McCormick, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Monday that Democrats would convene a caucus meeting to determine how they’ll handle the the bipartisan Ethics panel’s recommendations.

After her resignation, Steube called on the Department of Justice to put Cherfilus-McCormick in prison.

“This is a victory for our institution and the great state of Florida,” Steube wrote on X. “Thank you to everyone who stayed involved and kept the pressure on. Now it’s on the DOJ to put her in prison.”

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