President Trump said on Saturday that Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been captured and flown out of Venezuela after a large U.S. strike.
The U.S. Army’s Delta Force, which is an elite special forces unit, reportedly conducted the operation.
Trump described the operation as a “large scale strike.”
Eyewitness video obtained by CBS News shows the aftermath of the strike.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Maduro is facing criminal charges in the United States, according to Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“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,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee wrote on X Saturday.
Rubio posted his previous statement about Maduro not being the legitimate president of Venezuela. He allegedly declared victory in the last election despite losing.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado previously said Americans should trust the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela.
“This is not a legitimate president. This is the head of a criminal structure that was already defeated in a presidential election by a landslide,” she said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi formally announced on Saturday that Venezuela leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York.
Venezuela President Maduro captured after US strike and will face drugs and weapons charges
UPDATED
• Maduro captured: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been captured after a large-scale US strike on the capital city of Caracas, according to US President Donald Trump, who said more details will come in an 11 a.m. ET news conference. Trump told Fox News he watched Maduro’s capture in real-time “like a television show.” See CNN’s live coverage of the strikes.
• What happens next: Trump said Maduro is aboard the USS Iwo Jima heading for New York, where he will face drugs and weapons charges in Manhattan federal court. What happens next for the country’s governance is still being determined, Trump said, as Venezuela’s foreign minister says Maduro remains the country’s leader and demands his return.
• About the operation: Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were dragged from their bedroom by elite US forces during the raid, sources told CNN. Trump said some Americans were injured when a helicopter was hit during the operation, which was meticulously planned in secret starting in December.
President Trump just provided more details on the capture of Venezuelan President Maduro.
Smoke and flames rise from Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, after a series of explosions in Caracas on Saturday.
President Donald Trump in a phone interview to Fox News and provided details on how the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro unfolded.
While he was talking, CNN also learned from sources that the Trump administration began preparing in mid-December for the secretive operation to strike Venezuela and capture Maduro.
• Maduro and his wife are aboard the USS Iwo Jima heading to New York, Trump said adding that he spoke to the Venezuelan president a week ago. Vice President JD Vance also posted on social media, saying Trump offered “multiple off ramps” before the US executed the operation.
• Trump said he watched the complex capture of Maduro in real-time from a room in his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, alongside military generals.
• The US is now making decisions on what happens next in Venezuela, Trump said. “We can’t take a chance of letting somebody else run it and just take over what (Maduro) left off. So we’re making that decision now. We’ll be involved in it very much,” Trump told Fox News. For his part, Venezuela’s foreign minister has insisted today that Maduro remains the country’s leader and has demanded his return.
• No Americans were killed, Trump said, but some were injured while attempting to capture Maduro at what he described as a heavily fortified location. The president added that a helicopter had been hit during the operation but no US aircraft were lost.
