Trump meets with Machado, threatens Insurrection Act in Minneapolis

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado visited the White House today and said she "presented" Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year.

Nobel laureate María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by Venezuela's then-President Nicolás Maduro, visited the White House today for a meeting with Trump she said was 'excellent.'
Machado said that she “presented” the Nobel Peace Prize that she won last year to Trump during their closed-door meeting.
The Pentagon is preparing to send additional U.S. forces and assets to the Middle East, a U.S. official told NBC News. The additional forces are to bolster the military’s assets in the region as tensions remain high and the president considers military action in Iran, the official said.
The U.S. seized another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea today that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela.
Trump has threatened to use the Insurrection Act to quell protests in Minneapolis after a federal officer trying to make an arrest shot a man in the leg yesterday, allegedly after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle.
The incident further heightened the sense of fear and anger radiating across the city a week after an immigration officer fatally shot a woman in the head.

This live blog on the Trump administration for Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, has ended. See more coverage here.