The Washington Post
Trump says U.S. will ‘run’ Venezuela during transition after U.S. raid captured Maduro
January 3, 2026 at 12:02 p.m. ESTjust now
President Trump holds a press conference after the United States said it captured Venezuelan President and his wife
2 min
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are aboard the USS Iwo Jima and bound for New York after they were captured by U.S. forces and removed from Venezuela by helicopter, Trump said.
Overnight, explosions shook multiple locations across Caracas, including at key military facilities, and aircraft were seen flying over the Venezuelan capital. Trump said the U.S. had prepared to mount a second-wave attack in Venezuela but that he doubted it would be needed.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement Saturday morning that Maduro and his wife were facing federal charges in the Southern District of New York, where Maduro was indicted in March 2020 on narco-terrorism charges. Trump has accused him of heading a narco-trafficking gang that is flooding the U.S. with illicit drugs — a claim Maduro denies.
Loud blasts jolted the area around the Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda air base in the eastern Caracas community of La Carlota early Saturday, nearby residents said, causing smoke to rise from one of the air base’s hangars. One woman with a clear view of the base from her apartment said the detonations were “deafening.” Residents in several parts of the city, including near La Carlota, reported power outages.
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Which locations in Venezuela were hit?
President Donald Trump said early Saturday that the United States “carried out a large scale strike...
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13 min ago
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Isaac Arnsdorf
Trump said the U.S. had prepared to mount a second-wave attack in Venezuela but that he doubted it would be needed. “We are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so,” he said. “We actually assumed that a second wave would be necessary. But now it’s probably not.”
13 min ago
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Dan Lamothe
Trump’s remarks that the United States will need to “run” Venezuela immediately raise questions whether he will order U.S. military deployments to provide security. Such operations have a history of being unpredictable and dangerous for U.S. forces involved.
16 min ago
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Tara Copp
The Venezuelan military was “rendered powerless” by U.S. forces, President Donald Trump said at the start of his news conference on the overnight military operations that captured President Nicolás Maduro. Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, Trump alluded to a potential attack on Venezuela’s electrical grid, saying “the lights of Caracas were largely turned off” by the United States.
17 min ago
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Isaac Arnsdorf
Trump said there was no American loss of life or equipment in the overnight operation in Venezuela.
21 min ago
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Dan Diamond
President Donald Trump asserts that the United States would “run” Venezuela for the time being.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump says.
23 min ago
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Dan Diamond
Trump is now delivering remarks at Mar-a-Lago on the strike on Venezuela. He’s flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine.
23 min ago
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Isaac Arnsdorf
Trump alluded to an effort to disable electricity in Venezuela. “The lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have,” he said.
27 min ago
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Dan Lamothe
President Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media a photograph of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in captivity aboard the USS Iwo Jima, the Navy warship where U.S. forces brought him after capturing him. Maduro appeared to be wearing a gray sweatsuit with black trim and holding a bottle of water, and had dark glasses and large headphones on. He didn’t appear to be injured.
35 min ago
Inside Caracas: Post reporter on the ground after U.S. strike
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Ana Vanessa Herrero
Reporting from Caracas, Venezuela
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The Washington Post's Ana Herrero reports from Caracas, Venezuela, following the U.S. operation that captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. (Video: Ana Herrero, Joy Sung/The Washington Post)
The Washington Post’s Ana Herrero reports from Caracas, Venezuela, following the U.S. operation to capture President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
37 min ago
New Maduro indictment details alleged conspiracy to flood U.S. with cocaine
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Perry Stein
The Justice Department unsealed a new indictment against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Saturday morning, alleging that they illegally enriched themselves as they conspired to flood the United States with cocaine.
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45 min ago
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Karen DeYoung
While charging that Maduro had undermined Venezuelans’ right to “self-determination,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said in a statement that the U.S. operation “contravenes the principle of the non-use of force that underpins international law … no lasting political solution can be imposed from the outside.”
Apparently connecting the Venezuela operation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Barrot said that the “growing number of violations of this principle” by permanent members of the U.N. Security Council “will have grave consequences for global security, sparing no one.”
49 min ago
CIA had source inside Maduro’s government, providing information on location
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Warren Strobel
The CIA had a source within the Venezuelan government that provided the U.S. spy agency with information on President Nicolás Maduro’s movements and location, leading to the U.S. Special Operations raid that captured the Venezuelan leader and his wife, said people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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51 min ago
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Noah Robertson
Sen. Roger Wicker (Mississippi), the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee “commended” the Trump administration on its raid to apprehend Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in a sign of tightening GOP support.
“This arrest was the culmination of a monthslong effort by the Trump administration to degrade the narco-terrorist organizations that Maduro oversaw,” Wicker said in a statement, repeating a contested claim that Maduro was the leader of a cartel outfit. Wicker said he would “convene a briefing as soon as possible” with senior military and law enforcement officials.
53 min ago
Venezuelans describe early-morning strikes
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María Luisa Paúl and Ana Vanessa Herrero
People drive by a damaged area of Port of La Guaira after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)
Earlier this morning, several witnesses to the U.S. operation in Venezuela spoke to The Washington Post about what they saw in the capital, Caracas, and elsewhere in the country. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because of safety concerns.
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58 min ago
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Cat Zakrzewski
The podium is set before President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach. (Alex Brandon/AP)
PALM BEACH, Fla. — The media gathered in the tearoom of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club on Saturday morning, where a lectern with a presidential seal had been set up for the president’s remarks. The room is draped with velvet fabrics, with a large crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
1 hour ago
USS Iwo Jima, used in Maduro mission, near Venezuela for months
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Dan Lamothe
The USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship, is docked in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on Dec. 16. (Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP/Getty Images)
The USS Iwo Jima, the Navy warship used by the U.S. military to transport Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, has been in the Caribbean Sea for months as part of an extraordinary buildup of U.S. naval forces in the region that had not been seen for decades.
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1 hour ago
U.S. will be ‘strongly involved’ with Venezuelan oil sector, Trump says
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Peter Whoriskey
Responding to criticism of the military action in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Saturday fired back saying in a Fox News interview that his administration was lowering the cost of oil.
“We’re bringing the prices way down,” he said, “When you do oil, everything follows. Everything is following.”
He added that the U.S. oil companies would be involved in the Venezuelan industry.
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1 hour ago
Pentagon notifies Congress of Maduro’s capture after operation
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Noah Robertson
The Pentagon notified Capitol Hill on Saturday morning that it had been “authorized” by the president to launch a military operation inside Venezuela in response to “national security threats posed by the illegitimate Maduro regime.”
The brief statement, reviewed by The Washington Post, was the first notice sent to key lawmakers regarding the Trump administration’s raid against the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro — an operation that occurred without prior approval from lawmakers.
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1 hour ago
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Samantha Chery
The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily banned U.S. air carriers from flying near Venezuela and other parts of the Caribbean “due to safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing military activity.”
The notices issued Saturday include bans in Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Curaçao.
1 hour ago
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Shannon Osaka
Trump declined to voice full support for María Corina Machado — the Venezuelan opposition leader who received the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize — to take over as the country’s president. “Well, we’re going to have to look at it,” he said. “Right now they have a vice president, as you know,” he said, referring to Delcy Rodríguez. The U.S. recognizes Venezuela’s opposition, rather than its ruling government, as legitimate.
1 hour ago
Machado says her team is prepared to ‘take power’ in democratic transition
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Samantha Schmidt
María Corina Machado, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, said her team is “prepared to assert our mandate and take power” in a democratic transition. She called on the armed forces to recognize Edmundo González, who won the July 2024 presidential election, as the legitimate president of Venezuela and commander in chief.
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1 hour ago
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Victoria Bisset
In preparation for the operation in Venezuela, U.S. forces built a replica of the house where President Nicolás Maduro was staying, President Donald Trump told “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
“They had everything, they practiced,” Trump said Saturday. “They actually built a house which was identical to the one they went into with all the safes and all the steel all over the place.”
1 hour ago
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Shannon Osaka
Trump told “Fox & Friends” that the military captured Maduro as he was trying to make his way into a “safety space” enclosed by solid steel. “He got bum-rushed so fast that he didn’t get into that,” Trump said.
1 hour ago
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Shannon Osaka
Trump claimed on “Fox & Friends Weekend” that every suspected drug boat downed in the Caribbean saves 25,000 lives. He also claimed that drugs take 300,000 American lives every year. “We had to do it because it’s a war,” he said. U.S. officials have confirmed 35 strikes on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since September, killing at least 115 people.
1 hour ago
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Shannon Osaka
Trump said Democrats in Congress should praise the operation in Venezuela. “They should say ‘great job,’” he told “Fox & Friends.” “They shouldn’t say, ‘Oh gee, maybe it’s not constitutional.’”
1 hour ago
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Maegan Vazquez
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) called the U.S. military action to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “a decisive and justified operation that will protect American lives.”
Johnson wrote in a Saturday social media post that he had spoken with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “in the last several hours,” and that the Trump administration is scheduling meetings to brief Congress beginning next week.
Earlier on Saturday, a congressional staff member told The Post that congressional committees were notified after the fact that the military had seized Maduro and struck targets in Venezuela.
1 hour ago
Chinese diplomatic team met with Maduro hours before capture
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Cate Cadell
A diplomatic team led by the Chinese government’s special representative for Latin American affairs, Qiu Xiaoqi, and China’s ambassador to Venezuela met with President Nicolás Maduro on Friday night, just hours before the U.S. strike.
During the meeting, Qiu and Maduro discussed the seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers bound for China, with the envoy reiterating Beijing’s support for the leader, according to Venezuelan media reports and Chinese diplomatic sources.
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1 hour ago
Venezuelans in Miami celebrate Maduro’s capture
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David Ovalle and Arelis R. Hernández
People wave Venezuelan flags in Doral, Florida, on Saturday. (Marco Bello/Reuters)
DORAL, Fla. — Hundreds of jubilant demonstrators danced and cheered in an impromptu gathering in the heart of South Florida’s Venezuelan community to celebrate the news that President Nicolás Maduro had been captured by U.S. forces overnight.
“Se fue. Se fue. Se fue!” dozens of Venezuelans shouted in rhythmic unison to a buoyant beat. “He’s gone. He’s gone. He’s gone!”
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1 hour ago
U.S. strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats have built up since September
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Amaya Verde and Adrián Blanco Ramos
U.S. officials have confirmed 35 strikes on suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since the Trump administration launched a campaign against alleged traffickers in September. The death toll has risen to at least 115.
So far, 22 of the strikes have occurred in the eastern Pacific and 11 in the Caribbean Sea, with the locations of the latest two not disclosed.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
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1 hour ago
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Perry Stein
The Justice Department filed a new indictment against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his inner circle Saturday morning. The four-count indictment on narco-terrorism charges in New York is similar to the 2020 indictment filed against the Venezuelan president, but the superseding indictment includes charges against his wife, Cilia Flores, who was also captured by U.S. forces Saturday.
1 hour ago
Photos show early-morning explosions in Caracas
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Natalia Jiménez-Stuard and Victoria Bisset
Smoke rises near Fort Tiuna in Caracas, Venezuela, on Saturday. (Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters)
Images taken early Saturday showed the aftermath of explosions in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, part of what President Donald Trump later described as a “large scale strike” that he said culminated in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and Maduro’s wife.
A fire rages at Fort Tiuna on Saturday. (Luis Jaimes/AFP/Getty Images)
Large fires were seen at key military facilities, including Fort Tiuna in the capital. The Venezuelan government said several states were attacked.
A highway in Caracas is largely empty on Saturday. (Gaby Oraa/Reuters)
1 hour ago
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Shannon Osaka and Karen DeYoung
Trump says the military was prepared for a “second wave” of attacks if the mission was unsuccessful. “This was so powerful that we didn’t have to, but we were prepared,” he told “Fox & Friends Weekend.” “We’re out there with an armada like nobody has ever seen before.”
The operation was prepared for launch four days ago, he said, but was delayed because of weather. “All of a sudden it opened up and we said go.” Although some U.S. service members were injured and one helicopter was damaged, he said, all returned safely.
2 hours ago
Video: Venezuelans in Chile, Florida celebrate U.S. operation
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Joy Sung
Venezuelans gathered in Doral, Florida, and Santiago on Jan. 3, 2026, to celebrate news of the U.S. military operation that captured President Nicolás Maduro. (Video: Reuters)
Venezuelans gathered in Doral, Florida, and Santiago on Saturday to celebrate news of the U.S. military operation that captured President Nicolás Maduro.
2 hours ago
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Karen DeYoung
U.N. Secretary General António Guterres considers U.S. military actions in Venezuela to “constitute a dangerous precedent,” his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said Saturday. “He’s deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected.”
2 hours ago
Trump used CIA units, Delta Force in Maduro seizure
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Warren Strobel and Ellen Nakashima
The Trump administration relied on elite Delta Force and CIA covert action units for the operation to seize President Nicolás Maduro in a highly secretive “snatch and grab” mission to force the Venezuelan leader from power, according to multiple people familiar with the deployments. The CIA identified the location where Maduro and his wife were, and Delta Force soldiers sent by President Donald Trump to the Caribbean conducted the raid. The CIA also provided support to the air, sea and land operations, according to two people familiar with the mission. Those CIA units, among the U.S. government’s most secretive, specialize in irregular warfare and other covert action, and have regularly worked with both the Army’s Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 over two decades of battling Islamist militant groups in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa.
2 hours ago
Capture of Maduro draws comparison to U.S. operation against Noriega
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Dan Lamothe
The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in an overnight raid bears resemblance to Manuel Antonio Noriega’s capture, in which the elite U.S. Delta Force seized the Panamanian strongman in 1990 and flew him to Florida to face drug trafficking charges, 36 years ago to the day.
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2 hours ago
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Shannon Osaka
President Trump called into “Fox & Friends” this morning, taking credit for the operation and praising the military efforts. “What he did with drugs is bad, what he did with a lot of other things was bad,” Trump said. “If you think about it, they emptied out all of their mental institutions into our country.”
2 hours ago
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Shannon Osaka
Trump said that the Maduros were placed on a ship, the USS Iwo Jima, to be taken to New York, and that they were removed from Venezuela by helicopter. “They’ll be heading in to New York,” the president told “Fox & Friends.” “The helicopters took them out, and they went by helicopter, a nice flight. I’m sure they loved it.”
2 hours ago
U.S. lawmakers split along partisan lines on Maduro capture
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Warren Strobel
Top lawmakers on congressional intelligence committees split along sharp partisan lines Saturday on the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Republicans and Democrats agreed that Maduro was not the country’s rightful leader, but broke over President Donald Trump’s unilateral action and the question of what’s next for Venezuela.
Rep. Jim Himes (Connecticut), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Congress should have authorized any use of military force.
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2 hours ago
Maduro faces federal narco-terrorism charges in New York
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Perry Stein
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife will face federal narco-terrorism charges in New York after the U.S. military launched strikes in the South American country overnight and captured the president and his wife, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday.
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2 hours ago
European countries call for international law to be respected
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Victoria Bisset
LONDON — European governments on Saturday issued measured statements calling for restraint, or expressing concern for their citizens in Venezuela.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc is “closely” monitoring the situation. “The EU has repeatedly stated that Mr Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition,” she wrote on X. “Under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected.”
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2 hours ago
Vance defends legality of U.S. mission in Venezuela
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Tobi Raji
Vice President JD Vance on Saturday defended the legality of the U.S. military operation in Venezuela and capture of President Nicolás Maduro over which foreign officials, including Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, have raised concerns.
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9:05 a.m. EST
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