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Trump says US will ‘run’ Venezuela until ‘judicious transition’ following capture of Maduro
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Trump says ‘we’re going to run’ Venezuela
01:26 • Source: CNN
Trump says ‘we’re going to run’ Venezuela
01:26
• Trump’s plan for Venezuela: President Donald Trump said the US will indefinitely “run the country” of Venezuela and “rebuild the oil infrastructure” after capturing President Nicolás Maduro in a large-scale military operation today. He suggested the US would remain on-site until the nation is “back on track” but didn’t specify a timeline.
• What’s next for Maduro: The Venezuela leader is expected to arrive today in New York, where he will face drugs and weapons charges. His wife, Cilia Flores, was also taken into custody after the couple was dragged from their bedroom by elite US forces during the overnight raid.
• On the ground: Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado has called for an opposition candidate to be installed as leader, while the county’s foreign minister insists Maduro remains the country’s head. Venezuelans in the capital have voiced mixed reactions to the US’s operation, with some celebrating the “positive change” and others saying Maduro’s capture creates “an even worse conflict.”
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he does not believe Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has the support or respect needed to lead the country following the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Pressed on whether he has been in contact with Machado since Maduro’s capture, Trump said, “no.”
“I think it’d be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect to be leader.”
Democrats are accusing the Trump administration of lying to Congress in previous classified briefings on Venezuela, insisting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told members of Congress that regime change wasn’t their goal.
Senate Foreign Relations Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen warned that Congress is in the dark on any “long-term strategy” on Venezuela and said the administration “consistently misled” them.
Sen. Andy Kim wrote in a post on X that “Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth looked every Senator in the eye a few weeks ago and said this wasn’t about regime change. I didn’t trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress.”
Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat on the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, agreed. “The Trump Administration repeatedly lied to Congress and the American people about Venezuela. Over and over, officials testified that this was not about regime change,” he said.
Sen. Chris Coons, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, also said that lawmakers were given “false” information by the administration.
Democrats also demanded an immediate briefing on the operation and the administration’s plan to deal with the aftermath of removing Maduro. The Senate is scheduled to return from recess on Monday, and the House is set to return on Tuesday.
Remember: Following a briefing by Rubio and Hegseth in December, ahead of the holiday recess, senators from both parties told CNN they left without a clear sense of whether the administration was actively working toward a regime change in Venezuela.
At the time, GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin insisted that regime change “was never a conversation” in the briefing with all senators, and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said that the briefers were “very careful in that briefing not to get over their skis on the future war plans.”
President Donald Trump clarified that the US would put troops in Venezuela for the purposes of securing oil, vowing the money would go toward reimbursing Venezuelans and the United States for damages caused under Nicolás Maduro’s leadership.
Trump said earlier during a news conference in Florida that he would not rule out the possibility of US military involvement, saying, “We’re not afraid of boots in the ground.”
Asked by CNN’s Kevin Liptak whether he envisions US boots on the ground while the US essentially runs the Venezuelan government in an interim period, Trump said, “Well, no, we’re going to have a presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil.”
Trump downplayed how many troops would be needed, adding, “We’re sending our expertise in, so you may need something, not very much.”
President Donald Trump issued a sharp warning to Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Saturday, citing concerns about drug trafficking in the wake of the US capture of Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro in a large-scale military operation.
When asked about Petro’s recent comments that he was unconcerned about any fallout from the operation, Trump responded directly during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago.
“He has factories where he makes cocaine,” Trump said. “He’s making cocaine and they’re sending it into the United States,” adding, “So he does have to watch his ass.”
US President Donald Trump said he did not talk about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a recent phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
“We never spoke about Maduro,” Trump told reporters at a news conference today.
Trump added that he is “not thrilled with Putin” at the moment, saying, “He’s killing too many people.”
Remember: Russia has remained a key ally of the Maduro regime in the face of Trump’s campaign against the Venezuelan government.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was given “multiple very, very, very generous offers” to leave power, but “chose instead to act like a wild man” and “play around.”
Speaking to the press Saturday after a US military operation that apprehended Maduro, Rubio said the Venezuelan leader had “multiple opportunities to find his way somewhere else.”
“Instead, he wanted to play big boy,” Rubio said.
President Donald Trump told Fox News Saturday that Maduro “wanted to negotiate at the end” and was “trying hard to make a deal.”
“I didn’t want to negotiate. I said, ‘Nope, we got to do it,’” Trump said.
Rubio reiterated Saturday that Maduro was “a fugitive of American justice” and an illegitimate leader with a $50 million bounty.
“I guess we saved $50 million,” he quipped, turning to Trump, who responded, “we should make sure.”
“Don’t let anybody claim it, nobody deserves it but us,” Trump added.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued the US military mission that saw strikes in Venezuela and the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro was “not the kind of mission that you can do congressional notification on.”
“It was a trigger-based mission in which conditions had to be met night after night. We watched and monitored that for number of days. So it’s just simply not the kind of mission you can call people and say, ‘Hey, we may do this at some point in the next 15 days,’” Rubio told reporters in Florida on Saturday.
“It’s just not the kind of mission that you can pre-notify because it endangers the mission,” he said. He also said it was “largely a law enforcement function.”
President Donald Trump added that “Congress has a tendency to leak.”
CNN reported, according to numerous sources, that the administration notified congressional leadership and key committees about the operation after the fact.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair in a previous interview that US strikes inside Venezuela would require congressional approval.
During the operation in Venezuela early Saturday morning, “a handful of troops sustained bullet and shrapnel wounds, but none are life-threatening,” a source briefed on the matter told CNN.
President Donald Trump told Fox News on Saturday that “a couple of guys were hit. But they came back and they’re supposed to be in pretty good shape.”
President Donald Trump said Saturday the United States military could have killed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro during its overnight operation if necessary.
Trump reiterated how the US military “went through the opposition so fast,” while also noting that “there was a lot of opposition.”
“People were wondering, do we get them by surprise? Sort of surprised, but they were waiting for something. It was a lot of opposition. There was a lot of gunfire,” he said.
Maduro is aboard the USS Iwo Jima ship, and Trump posted an image of him in US custody shortly before the news conference began.
President Donald Trump offered some more details on who is in charge in Venezuela after the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, saying that top US officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would work with a “team” to help run the country.
“It’s largely going to be, for a period of time, the people that are standing right behind me. We’re going to be running it. We’re going to be bringing it back,” Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago club.
The president was standing in front of Rubio, Hegseth, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
He later clarified that Rubio and Hegseth would be a “team that’s working with the people of Venezuela to make sure that we have Venezuela right,” raising the possibility of a power vacuum in the US’ absence.
Trump did not rule out the possibility of US military involvement, saying, “We’re not afraid of boots in the ground.”
He also said there are plans to “rebuild the oil infrastructure,” which he said would be “paid for by the oil companies directly.” Venezuela has massive reserves of crude oil.
Trump did not provide a specific timeline but suggested the US would remain on site until the country is “put back on track.”
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine on Saturday described the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as an extensive meticulously planned operation that took months to prepare for and hours to carry out on the ground.
Speaking at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Caine described the mission as a collaboration involving all branches of the military and intelligence agencies that requires months of preparation.
That included tracking Maduro to “understand how he moved, where he lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore,” Caine said.
CNN previously reported that the CIA had installed a small team inside Venezeula over the summer to keep close watch on Maduro’s activities.
Late on Friday night, Caine added, more than 150 aircraft launched from 20 different bases on land and sea across the Western Hemisphere. Among them were helicopters carrying an extraction force that began their flight into Venezuela at just 100 feet above the water.
The helicopters, safeguarded by a series of strikes carried out in the area, arrived at Maduro’s compound around 1 a.m. ET. The effort to capture Maduro and his wife required multiple “self defense engagements” as the forces came under fire, Caine said, before flying out of Venezuela around 3:29 ET.
Maduro and his wife were subsequently transferred to the USS Iwo Jima, where they’re now on their way to New York to stand trial.
“Failure of one component of this well-oiled machine would have endangered the entire mission, and failure is never an option for America’s joint force,” Caine said.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine said Saturday that one US aircraft was struck during the operation to capture Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela but remained operational throughout the mission.
“One of our aircraft was hit, but remained flyable, and as the president said earlier today, all of our aircraft came home, and that aircraft remained flyable during the rest of the mission, as the operation unfolded at the compound,” Caine said, speaking at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago alongside President Donald Trump.
Caine also highlighted the role of intelligence teams in supporting the mission in real time.
“Our air and ground intelligence teams provided real-time updates to the ground force, ensuring those forces could safely navigate the complex environment without unnecessary risk.”
He added that US forces encountered resistance as they exited the country.
“There were multiple self-defense engagements as the force began to withdraw out of Venezuela,” Caine said.
US forces will remain in the region following large-scale strikes on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro overnight, said Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Caine called the US operation a “testament to the dedication and unwavering commitment to justice and our resolve to hold accountable those who threaten peace and stability,” thanking those who carried out the mission.
President Donald Trump said his administration has “superseded” the principles laid out in the Monroe Doctrine, which he said is sometimes referred to as the “Donroe Document.”
“For decades, other administrations have neglected or even contributed to these growing security threats in the Western Hemisphere. Under the Trump administration, we are reasserting American power in a very powerful way in our home region,” Trump said.
Trump also offered justification for the United States intervening, stating that Venezuela was “increasingly hosting foreign adversaries in our region and acquiring menacing offensive weapons that could threaten US interests and lives.” He added that Venezuela used those weapons last night.
“All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy, dating back more than two centuries,” Trump said. “Not anymore.”
Demonstrations are planned in cities across the US today against military action in Venezuela, after the US conducted a large-scale strike on the city of Caracas and captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“We need to take to the streets and say no to another endless war! The people of this country do not want another war! A U.S. war would cause death and destruction for the people of Venezuela,” the Answer Coalition, one group organizing the protests, wrote in a news release.
Demonstrations are planned for Chicago, New York’s Times Square, outside the White House in Washington, DC, along with city halls and statehouses across the country this afternoon.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is expected to arrive in New York today and is likely to be taken to the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a source tells CNN.
The earliest he would be presented in court at the Southern District of New York in Manhattan is Monday, the source said.
Maduro was indicted in SDNY in 2020, and a superseding indictment there was unveiled Saturday.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that the US embargo on Venezuelan oil remains in place following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, while delivering a sharp warning to other political and military figures tied to the regime.
Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that the United States is maintaining economic and military pressure on Venezuela as it assesses next steps.
Trump also issued a direct warning to leaders associated with Maduro.
“All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand what happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them if they aren’t just fair, even to their people,” he said.
Trump said Maduro’s removal marked a turning point for the country.
“The dictator and terrorist, Maduro, is finally gone in Venezuela. People are free. They’re free again. It’s been a long time for them, but they’re free,” he said.
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, who is aboard the USS Iwo Jima headed to New York, is expected to briefly stop at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, before being transferred to New York, two sources familiar with the plans tell CNN.
Part of the consideration is that this allows the transfer to made more quickly, according to a source. By putting him on plane there, officials can take him directly to New York instead of having to first present him at another court.
The base, sometimes referred to as “Gitmo,” is located in southeastern Cuba, on the coast of Guantánamo Bay.
The overnight mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was dubbed Operation Absolute Resolve, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said on Saturday.
“The operation, known as Operation Absolute Resolve, was discreet, precise and conducted during the darkest hours of January 2, and was the culmination of months of planning and rehearsal — an operation that frankly only the United States military could undertake,” he said.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States was prepared to mount a second attack on Venezuela if need be — though he suggested it was no longer necessary after military personnel were able to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in an overnight raid.
“We were prepared to do a second wave if we needed to do so — we actually assumed that a second wave would be necessary, but now it’s probably not,” Trump said in remarks from Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday as he recounted the operation.
“The first wave, if you’d like to call it that, the first attack was so successful, we probably don’t have to do a second, but we’re prepared to do a second wave, a much bigger wave, actually,” he continued.
The president reiterated comments that the operation conducted in the early hours of Saturday morning, which saw elite US forces drag Maduro and his wife from their bedroom, was as “pinpoint” operation.
And he added that subsequent military operations in Venezuela were in the planning phase but that the administration “probably won’t have to do” them.
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