Trump shares fake Wikipedia page calling him 'Acting President of Venezuela'

• President Donald Trump shared a fake Wikipedia screenshot that listed him as "acting president of Venezuela."
• Venezuela's former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has been sworn in as the interim president.

President Donald Trump appears to support adding "acting president of Venezuela" to his credentials amid mixed messages on who is in charge in the South American country.

In a Jan. 11 Truth Social post, Trump shared a doctored screenshot of his Wikipedia page that lists "acting president of Venezuela, incumbent January 2026," under his official portrait.

On Jan. 3, U.S. troops captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a surprise attack, after months of mounting U.S. pressure on Venezuela, an oil-rich country. Trump at a press conference later that day said the U.S. would run the country until there would be a “safe, proper and judicious transition."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt have said instead that the U.S. is using "leverage" over the country as it moves to interim leadership, even as Trump has maintained that "we're in charge."

He also told The New York Times in an exclusive interview that he expected the U.S. to be running Venezuela and extracting its oil for years.

Who is the actual acting president of Venezuela?

Venezuela's previous Vice President Delcy Rodríguez under Maduro has been sworn in as the interim president. She originally rejected claims she was willing to work with the Trump administration, but has since said she is open to it.

"We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence," she said in an Instagram post on Jan. 4.

A Jan. 12 review of Trump's Wikipedia page shows the title of "Acting President of Venezuela" was not listed under his portrait.

Why did Trump take the Venezuelan president?

The U.S. has been escalating pressure on Venezuela for months, conducting strikes on boats it accused of carrying drugs, building up military presence in the Caribbean near the country and warning airlines to avoid Venezuelan airspace.

Trump called Maduro an "outlaw dictator" in announcing the arrest at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 3. Maduro took office in 2013 and has presided over the collapse of the Venezuelan economy. Both Maduro and his opponent claimed victory in the country's 2024 election, and many foreign leaders, including Trump, have questioned or rejected the legitimacy of Maduro's win.

Trump also said Maduro's arrest will open Venezuela's oil reserves, previously state-owned, for oil businesses.

"We're going to rebuild the oil infrastructure, which will cost billions of dollars," Trump said. The cost will be "paid for by the oil companies directly," but they will be "reimbursed," he said.

"We're going to get the oil flowing the way it should be," he added.

Maduro was indicted on four counts accusing him of leading a 25-year narco-terrorism conspiracy. Maduro appeared in court on Jan. 5 and pleaded not guilty to the charges.(The story and headline were updated to clarify that the image shared by President Trump was a doctored screenshot.)

Contributing: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Lauren Villagran, Mike Snider, Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA TODAY

Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her onX (Twitter),Bluesky andTikTok.