AMNA NAWAZ: The White House seems to be working with the remnants of the Maduro regime after Saturday's raid, but, for decades, there's been robust opposition to the governments of Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro.

Among the principal leaders of that opposition now is Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado.

And one of her top aides is David Smolansky, who joins me here in the studio.

Thank you for being here.

DAVID SMOLANSKY, Senior Foreign Adviser for Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez: Thank you for having me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, as you saw in our report there, obviously, Maduro's former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has now been sworn in as acting president.

You heard President Trump also say we, meaning the U.S., are in charge of Venezuela.

Is it clear to you who is running the country right now, Rodriguez or President Trump?

DAVID SMOLANSKY: Well, first of all, I have to say that what we're seeing today in New York is something that Venezuelans wanted for years.

Nine of 10 Venezuelans wanted Maduro not only out of power, but to face justice.

I have to say that this country is guaranteeing rights to Maduro and his wife, like, for example, having an attorney, something that Maduro never did.

Maduro illegally detained 20,000 innocent Venezuelans during the last decade, and most of them were physically tortured psychologically, tortured, didn't have a right for attorney or a family visit or something.

So I wanted to start with that, and I think the operation that happened in my country in January 3 was clean, was smooth, was fast.

And the vast majority of Venezuelans are grateful with President Trump and the U.S.

administration about this operation.

AMNA NAWAZ: You're glad they took that step?

DAVID SMOLANSKY: Yes, definitely.

It's a huge step.

And specifically on your question... AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

DAVID SMOLANSKY: ... every transition at the beginning is messy.

There are plenty of examples in Latin America and all the parts of the world.

In the case of Venezuela, this is a regime that has been 27 years in power, not only committing crimes against humanity and human rights violations, but also they destroyed completely the economy, and almost nine million people fled Venezuela.

The legitimacy and the credibility is on Maria Corina Machado and president-elect Edmundo Gonzalez, not once but twice.

And Corina Machado won a primary election with 93 percent of the vote.

She was illegally banned from running.

She endorsed President Edmundo Gonzalez.

He was elected with 70 percent of the vote, despite it was a not transparent election.

We proved we won.

Those tallies, by the way, are today preserved in Panama.

And I don't have any doubt that Maria Corina Machado and president-elect Edmundo Gonzalez are going to lead the rebuild of Venezuela.

Delcy Rodriguez is a thug.

Delcy Rodriguez is sanctioned here in the U.S., is sanctioned in Canada.

She's sanctioned in the European Union.

She's part of Suns Cartel.

She was one of the masterminds to open Venezuela's doors to Iran, Cuba, Russia, and China, and she's not trustworthy to work.

AMNA NAWAZ: I hear you saying Machado has support on the ground, but when President Trump was asked specifically about her leadership, as you well know, he dismissed her.

He said: "She doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country.

She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect."

Why do you think he summed her that way?

DAVID SMOLANSKY: Well, on that regard, and with due respect with President Trump, I have a disagreement on that point.

AMNA NAWAZ: But do you think she needs to win his confidence to be able to lead Venezuela?

DAVID SMOLANSKY: She's got all the confidence from the people and the credibility.

It's just out of this world what she has done since 2023.

I mean, she's been in this fight for years, but more specifically in 2023, when she was elected as a democratic movement leader.

So she's got the legitimacy.

She sent a message today very clear.

She will call for some actions during the next days.

We heard also from president-elect Edmundo Gonzalez a very important statement asking for the release of political prisoners, because I have to remember that there are more than 800 political prisoners in Venezuela that, as we speak, they are psychologically tortured and physically tortured.

And this is something that we're speaking with the administration.

And this is something that we're speaking in Congress and we're speaking with other governments in the world, because I want to remember that there is a global coalition supporting the democratic movement in Venezuela.

In Latin America, there is Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala.

There is the E.U., or the vast majority of the E.U.

members, the U.K., Canada, Israel, Morocco.

There are many countries that are supporting our democratic movement.

And these are the topics that also we are discussing with this administration.

And we are ready to govern and we are ready to lead a rejuvenation.

AMNA NAWAZ: And this administration is now saying they are in charge.

So I wonder, has Maria Corina Machado spoken directly with President Trump since Maduro was ousted?

DAVID SMOLANSKY: Yes, there are communications with the... AMNA NAWAZ: They have been directly in contact?

DAVID SMOLANSKY: There are communications with the administration.

We have presented, for example, the $1.7 trillion opportunity.

We believe, after the regime destroyed our oil industry, we believe that the whole industry needs to be privatized.

We believe in private property.

We believe in private companies.

We believe in free market.

We believe that the U.S.

could be our best ally on energy because we want to have U.S.

companies working in Venezuela and Western Hemisphere companies working in Venezuela, not Chinese... AMNA NAWAZ: So you support President Trump when he says, we want to invite U.S.

companies into Venezuela?

DAVID SMOLANSKY: Well, because, in the case of Venezuela that has been the largest oil reserve in the world, when we talk about energy and democracy are -- are not excluded.

U.S.

oil companies in Venezuela have been in my country for over a century.

So this is not for us something new.

So it's not something that goes distant from democracy.

And we don't -- and, by the way, I mean, the damage that Iranians and Russians and Chinese and even Cubans have made to specifically the oil industry has been very profound.

And that needs to change.

And we need a more reliable ally on that.

AMNA NAWAZ: As we saw, President Trump, when he first announced the arrest, said: "We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition."

He's also just told NBC a short while ago that he does not see new elections happening in Venezuela for it at least 30 days.

So how do you see this playing out?

DAVID SMOLANSKY: Well, the election has already happened.

We won.

The vast majority of Venezuelans elected... AMNA NAWAZ: You don't believe there needs to be a new election now?

DAVID SMOLANSKY: Well, that's something that, again, when the transition happens, the beginning are messy.

Obviously, there needs to be a transition government, and then, because according to our Constitution, need to call for election.

But what is important here and I want to remark is that there's no doubt, for the overwhelming majority of Venezuelans within the country outside the country, that the legitimacy is on Maria Corina Machado and the president-elect is Edmundo Gonzalez.

And we're working very hard to keep increasing that global alliance that we have we have built for these month.

And that's how you see that not many are crying that Maduro is now facing justice in New York.

Because the world knows the atrocities that he committed.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let me ask you how worried you might be that the U.S.

government will just continue to work with Delcy Rodriguez if they find her leadership to be compliant, which is the word we keep hearing from this administration, and will continue to sideline Machado?

DAVID SMOLANSKY: She won't be able to deliver that, because the armed forces in Venezuela were humiliated by the impeccable operation that the U.S.

did on January 3.

She's not trustworthy.

As I said, she's illegal.

She's individually sanctioned in Canada, in the E.U.

and in the U.S.

AMNA NAWAZ: And yet she has President Trump's support right now.

DAVID SMOLANSKY: And she's a member of the drug cartel.

Well, President Trump was very clear to say that she could end worse than Maduro.

So I wouldn't -- I wouldn't say that she's got the support completely for -- from President Trump.

I mean, she's under real pressure, not only from the U.S.

but also internally, because the regime right now, it's almost completely cracked after what happened on January 3.

They're completely demoralized.

The armed forces didn't have any capacity to respond on this operation.

And it was proven, by the way, something that we denounced for years, that the security of Nicolas Maduro and his wife was run by the Cubans, which is not something small to say, that we were already a nation invaded by foreign actors and, in this specific case, of Cuba, when this regime started with Chavez and Fidel Castro.

AMNA NAWAZ: As you say, messy, for sure, very uncertain.

We hope you will come back and continue this conversation as we follow the news on the ground.

David Smolansky, good to have you here.

DAVID SMOLANSKY: Thank you for having me.