The President of the United States, Donald Trump, consulted Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI, Elon Musk’s, about how Venezuelans would react to a possible capture of Nicolás Maduro by the United States.
The conversation reportedly took place in December 2025, about a month before the U.S. operation that captured the then-Venezuelan president.
The account was published by Time magazine and attributed to an official who had participated in a private meeting between Trump and Musk at the White House. According to the report, the American president spent hours asking the system questions on a range of topics, including his presidency, his legacy, and the political situation in Venezuela.
At that time, tensions between Washington and Caracas were escalating. The United States had expanded its military presence in the Caribbean, carried out attacks against vessels that the Trump administration said were linked to drug trafficking, and increased pressure to remove Maduro from power.
Trump Asked About Venezuelans’ Reaction
According to the account reproduced by Time, Trump asked Grok how the Venezuelan population would react if American forces captured Maduro.
The chatbot reportedly described Maduro as an authoritarian ruler with low popularity and assessed that a significant portion of Venezuelans would likely receive his departure positively.
The report states that Trump left the meeting impressed by the system’s capability. The episode occurred months after Musk left his position in the government and amid the entrepreneur’s rapprochement with the president.
On January 3, 2026, American forces carried out an operation in Venezuela and captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The two were removed from the country and taken to the United States.
