Shumita Basu

An American bloc hater on the country and U.S.

pressure over the future of the country's oil reserves has placed interim President Delcy Rodriguez in a precarious position.

Rodriguez is a veteran of Maduro's government, not an opposition leader, and recent U.S.

intelligence reports raise concerns about her willingness to cooperate while abandoning ties with Russia and China.

For her part, Rodriguez has shown more resistance to the U.S.

in recent days, publicly at least.

She said the country had had enough of Washington's orders to Venezuelan politicians and demanded Venezuelans resolve their internal politics.

Rubio repeated the administration's reasoning behind opposing Maduro and spoke about what officials hope will come next.

He also said the U.S.

will deposit funds from oil sales into an account that it would oversee, ensuring the revenue will be used for basic services like police and healthcare to stabilize the country.

Over the nearly three-hour hearing, Rubio also clashed with senators over the administration's insistence that capturing Maduro was a law enforcement operation and therefore, as the administration argues, not in need of congressional approval.

Committee member Senator Rand Paul broke from his Republican colleagues as he expressed heavy skepticism.

And here's another exchange where this came up with Democratic Senator Chris Coons.

Rubio declined to rule out further military action in Venezuela or specify when a transition of government and elections would take place.

He also urged lawmakers to have patience and promised that progress is being made.

When President Trump took office for the second time last year, he pardoned more than 1,500 people charged or convicted with crimes related to the January 6th attack on the Capitol in an effort to recast the insurrectionists as victims.

Five years later, some still believe they were in the right that day, like Jacob Lang, who spoke with ABC News' Jay O'Brien earlier this month.

Now, some of those pardoned who paid financial penalties for their actions are asking the federal government for their money back.

Beth Reinhardt is a reporter with The Washington Post, and she told us about some of these defendants.

According to a tally from The Washington Post, defendants were sentenced to over a million dollars in restitution and fines and are believed to have cumulatively caused more than $3 million in damage.