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Just minutes after an earth-shaking post on Truth Social announcing the U.S. operation to capture and exfiltrate Nicolás Maduro and his wife, President Donald Trump praised the success of this covert operation. “A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people,” Trump told The New York Times in a 4:30 a.m. ET call that reportedly lasted less than a minute. “It was a brilliant operation, actually.”
Trump has scheduled a news conference at Mar-a-Lago at 11 a.m. to discuss the indictment of Maduro on narcoterrorism charges following the “large-scale strike” that exfiltrated Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Trump said in a televised interview that no U.S. service members were killed during a covert operation in which American forces surrounded Nicolás Maduro at his compound. The president and commander-in-chief did say the operation resulted in only a small number of injuries, without providing further details.
“He was in a house that was more like a fortress than a house,” Trump said an interview with Fox News. “It had steel doors, it had what they call a safety space where it’s, you know, it’s solid steel all around. He didn’t get that space closed. He was trying to get into it, but he got bum rushed so fast that he didn’t get into there.
“We were prepared. We had, you know, massive blow torches and everything else that you need to get through that steel, but we didn’t need it. He didn’t, he didn’t make it to that area of the house,” Trump added.
Trump, who has frequently criticized Democrats and what he describes as “leakers” in Congress, told The Times that “we’ll discuss” what advance authorization, if any, he sought before the operation.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) was not briefed in advance of the operation, according to reports.
“House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries did not get a heads up that President Donald Trump’s administration was planning to strike Venezuela and capture President Nicholas Maduro, per sources,” Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman wrote on X.
“HASC [House Armed Services Committee] was not briefed either,” Sherman added. “This has been pretty standard for the Trump administration.”
Trump said in an early morning announcement on social media that American federal law enforcement agents, in conjunction with the U.S. military, successfully captured Maduro in a stunning overnight operation that took place in the South American nation.
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Details to follow,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
He added that there would be a press conference later today at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Attorney General Pam Bondi followed up the president’s announcement with one of her own.
“Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States,” Bondi wrote on X.
At least seven explosions could be heard in Venezuela’s capital city of Caracas early Saturday morning, according to The Associated Press, and low-flying aircraft were seen flying over Caracas at about 2 a.m. local time.
The helicopters flying over Caracas were part of the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the “Night Stalkers.”
“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts. On behalf of the entire U.S. DOJ, I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American People, and a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers,” she added.
