Tony Dokoupil Grills Hegseth on Venezuela Takeover in CBS Evening News Debut: ‘Are You Prepared to Have Troops on the Ground?’

Tony Dokoupil got off to a fast start as the new anchor of CBS Evening News on Saturday as he grilled Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth about the Trump Administration’s next steps in Venezuela after the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Dokoupil pressed Hegseth for clarity after President Donald Trump told reporters the U.S. would “run” Venezuela for the time being earlier in the day.

“What does that look like?” Dokoupil asked. “Does that mean we’re going to see Americans on the corners of Venezuela, in the government of Venezuela? Are you prepared to have troops on the ground in Venezuela?”

“It means we set the terms. President Trump sets the terms, and he will ultimately decide what the iterations are of that,” Hegseth told him. “It means the drugs stop flowing, it means the oil that was taken from us is returned ultimately, and that criminals are not sent to the United States. It [means] foreign countries do not have a lodgment inside our hemisphere.”

Hegseth added that Trump’s “brave decision” allows America to “control” what comes next.

“So, Mr. Secretary, then by your words there, I imagine you are prepared for a full-scale U.S. intervention to stabilize the country of Venezuela, if asked for by the president,” Dokoupil followed up. “If that comes to pass, will you ask Congress for approval? Do you believe legally you need to ask Congress for approval?”

“This was a law enforcement exercise; it was the Department of War, in support of the Department of Justice, pulling out an indicted person who will ultimately face justice,” Hegseth said. “And Marco [Rubio] was clear there that this is not something you notify Congress about beforehand.”

He was referring to the secretary of state telling reporters the operation was “not the kind of mission you can do a Congressional notification on.” Trump echoed Rubio in his own comments, saying he could not give Congress a heads-up because lawmakers have a “tendency to leak.”

The interview came as CBS moved up Dokoupil’s Evening News debut from Monday to Saturday.

Dokoupil was set to start hosting EN on Monday from Miami, as part of a 10-city tour to celebrate his move into the anchor seat. That plan was changed after Maduro’s capture, with CBS posting on X the “Live From America” tour would begin “later this week.”

Watch above.