WASHINGTON

Venezuela will not have new elections in the next 30 days, US President Donald Trump said Monday.

"We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote," Trump said in an interview with NBC News.

"It’s going to take a period of time. We have to nurse the country back to health," he added.

Trump said Saturday that US military action had resulted in the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, first lady Cilia Flores, also pledging to assert American control over the country for the time being, with US troops if necessary.

He stressed that the US is not at war with Venezuela.

"No, we’re not," he said. "We’re at war with people that sell drugs. We’re at war with people that empty their prisons into our country and empty their drug addicts and empty their mental institutions into our country."

Additionally, he told NBC News that the US could help subsidize oil companies’ efforts to rebuild Venezuela’s energy infrastructure, a process he estimated could be completed in under 18 months.

"I think we can do it in less time than that, but it'll be a lot of money," Trump said. "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."

During the interview, NBC News said Trump named several US officials including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller as figures who would help guide US involvement in Venezuela.

"It's a group of all. They have all expertise, different expertise," he said.

-'Me' in charge of Venezuela

When asked who would ultimately be in charge, he offered a one-word response: “Me.”

Maduro pleaded not guilty Monday in a New York court to federal charges, including narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine, saying he remains the leader of his country. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was formally sworn in on Monday as interim president after the capture of Maduro.

Trump said Rodríguez had been working with US officials, but he maintained there was no contact between her allies and the American side prior to Maduro’s capture, according to the report.

"No, that’s not the case," he said, adding that a determination will be made soon about whether existing sanctions against Rodriguez will be left in place or lifted.

When asked if there was "any deal with any official in Venezuela to remove" Maduro, Trump said: "Well, yeah, because a lot of people wanted to make a deal, but we decided to do it this way."

He would not say whether he has personally spoken with Rodriguez but noted that Rubio "speaks to her fluently in Spanish" and that their "relationship has been very strong."

He also suggested that the US could carry out a second military operation in Venezuela if Rodriguez were to stop cooperating with American officials, though he said he does not expect that to happen and suggested he had initially expected to have to send in American forces again already.

"We’re prepared to do it," Trump said. "We anticipated doing it, actually."

Trump also rejected a Washington Post report claiming that he had ruled out Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from leading the country because she won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize — an honor Trump has reportedly long coveted.

"She should not have won it," he said. "But no, that has nothing to do with my decision."

Lawmakers from both parties have pointed out that Trump did not request new congressional authorization for Saturday morning’s operation, and in the interview, he said he would not require approval from Congress to send American troops back in.

"We have good support congressionally," he said. "And Congress knew what we were doing all along, but we have good support congressionally. Why wouldn't they support us?"