President Donald Trump announced early Saturday morning that the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, flying them out of the country after a “large scale strike.” This marks the administration’s most aggressive action in the region since taking office.
The shocking announcement follows months of airstrikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in the region that have killed dozens, as the administration has denied that the real goal was a regime change to oust the authoritarian leader.
“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,” the president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social at 4:21 a.m. Eastern time. “This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Details to follow. There will be a News Conference today at 11 A.M., at Mar-a-Lago. Thank you for your attention to this matter! ”
Speaking to The New York Times in a brief interview, the president called it a “brilliant operation” and credited “good planning.”
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In a separate interview with Fox News, Trump said he watched the operation live and “watched it literally like I was watching a television show.” Trump marveled at the “speed” and “violence” of the attack, telling Fox News: “It was an amazing thing.”
The months-long campaign against Venezuela has grown more aggressive in recent weeks, as the U.S. built up an armada off its coast, designated the nation’s ruling government as a “foreign terrorist organization” and ordered a blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers coming and going from the country — seizing multiple. In October, Trump indicated that the U.S. would consider land operations in the country.
In 2020, during the first Trump administration, the U.S. charged Maduro with narco-terrorism and corruption. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday that Maduro had been charged in the Southern District of New York 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.”
Venezuelan Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said in a statement that Maduro will now face “international justice for the atrocious crimes committed against Venezuelans and against citizens of many other nations.
“Faced with his refusal to accept a negotiated exit, the government of the United States has fulfilled its promise to uphold the law,” she said in Spanish.
Earlier on Saturday, the Venezuela government warned of airstrikes within the capital Caracas and accused the United States of carrying them out, which Trump later confirmed.
The country’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said he “condemned” the U.S. actions, and said they were in “flagrant violation of the U.N. charter and international law.” Venezuela announced a state of emergency, with officials calling for proof of life for Maduro and adding that the strikes killed multiple Venezuelans and injured more.
The defense minister added, “The community is rejecting the presence of these international troops that are sowing death, grief and disruption. This is responding to the greed for our natural resources, they have spread false lies about narco terrorism and they are seeking regime change at the hands of U.S. imperialism.”
Other Republican officials in the U.S. praised the attack and captures. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has long wanted Maduro’s ouster, reposted an X from August that said, “Maduro is NOT president of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government.”
His deputy, Christopher Landau, wrote, “A new dawn for Venezuela! 🙏 The tyrant is gone. He will now—finally—face justice for his crimes.”
Early congressional reaction has been split. Republicans have long hedged as to when they would ask Trump to seek congressional approval but on Saturday morning, several said they were happy with the outcome of the operation.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee at first questioned what “might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force” but then said he had since spoken to Rubio and changed his tune, citing an “arrest warrant” for Maduro.
“He informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack,” Lee wrote.
Lee added that Rubio “anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican and military hawk, said he approved of the action after speaking with Rubio.
“I just spoke to @SecRubio, who confirmed that Maduro is in U.S. custody and will face justice for his crimes against our citizens,” Cotton said in a social media post. “I commend President Trump and our brave troops and law-enforcement officers for this incredible operation.”
However, Democratic Sen. Andy Kim said in a post on X that Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had 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. Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war.”
And Sen. Brian Schatz, another outspoken Trump critic, wrote “We have no vital national interests in Venezuela to justify war. We should have learned not to stumble into another stupid adventure by now. And he’s not even bothering to tell the American public what the hell is going on.”
Trump is expected to address the country in a press conference later Saturday morning, no doubt facing questions on congressional authority and what comes next.
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