Who Is Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s New Leader?

Trump said Machado didn't have the respect of the nation necessary to lead it.

Trump told reporters Saturday the U.S. will run Venezuela, but he said the close Maduro ally had spoken at length with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and appeared "willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again."

"I think she was quite gracious, but she really doesn't have a choice," the president said, telling media she told Rubio, "We'll do whatever you need."

He told the New York Post that whether U.S. troops are stationed in Venezuela depends on if Rodríguez does what Washington wants.

She insisted "there is only one president in Venezuela, and his name is Nicolás Maduro."

However, Russian officials dismissed that report as false to state-owned media.

Trump ally and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that the U.S. does not recognize Rodríguez as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, just as it did not recognize Maduro.

"I don't think that we can count on Delcy Rodríguez to be friendly to the United States until she proves it," he said.

She forcefully condemned the Trump administration's operation and shared a statement from the government describing it as an attempt to seize Venezuela's resources.

"What is being done to Venezuela is a barbarity," she said, per The New York Times.

Rodríguez has shared a series of government statements throughout the tightening of the U.S. squeeze on Maduro, accusing the U.S. of following a model of colonialism and violating international law.

In an Instagram post rebuking Trump's order to block sanctioned oil tankers leaving and entering Venezuela, she wrote that the country would "defend its rights to free trade, navigability, free development, sovereignty and national independence."