The Trump administration has ratcheted up the pressure on the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in recent weeks, recognizing an opposition lawmaker as the country's leader until new elections can be held and imposing more sanctions on the state oil company whose revenues have kept the country afloat.

Those diplomatic and financial maneuvers have been matched by rhetorical gamesmanship, led in large part by National Security Advisor John Bolton, a foreign-policy hawk who has advocated regime change in other countries in the past.

Bolton's recent comments have encouraged Maduro and those around him to leave power, hinting at consequences if that doesn't come to pass.

"I wish Nicolas Maduro and his top advisors a long, quiet retirement, living on a nice beach somewhere far from Venezuela. They should take advantage of President Guaido's amnesty and move on. The sooner the better," Bolton said on Twitter on Thursday.

Appearing on the Hugh Hewitt radio show on Friday, Bolton said that military intervention in Venezuela by the US, Brazil, Colombia, "or some combination there," was not imminent, but he reiterated all options were on the table, even as the US's objective was "a peaceful transfer of power."

Read more: Trump leaves 'military option' on the table for Venezuela, which he calls as threatening as North Korea

Asked about a note he appeared with suggesting 5,000 US troops could be deployed to neighboring Colombia, Bolton laughed, reiterating that all options were on the table, "and going beyond that, I think, would be imprudent, as George H.W. Bush would say," he said.