WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The Trump administration is imposing a ban on travel to the United States by members of Venezuela’s constituent assembly, a body controlled by President Nicolas Maduro and denounced by the opposition as illegitimate, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

Elliott Abrams, Washington’s special envoy on Venezuela, said the time for dialogue with Maduro “has long passed,” except to negotiate his departure, and reinforced U.S. backing for opposition leader Juan Guaido, who swore himself in as interim president last month and earned recognition from the United States and a number of other countries. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Luc Cohen and Lesley Wroughton in Washington Editing by James Dalgleish)