US Speaker wants polls in Venezuela in ‘short order’

US House Speaker Mike Johnson has called for elections in Venezuela after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a vote in the country would be premature.

“I expect that there will be an election called in Venezuela,” Johnson told reporters, following a briefing to lawmakers by Rubio and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth.

“It should happen in short order. And I think it will need to be, so that their economy can remain stabilised and the country can remain stabilised,” he said.

Johnson, the top member of Trump’s Republican Party in Congress, added that he did not expect the US to send troops to Venezuela, something that Trump has refused to rule out publicly.