By Agencies – published by CNA and CNN
Washington – US President Donald Trump on Saturday (Jan. 3) said the United States will “run” Venezuela until “such time that we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition” following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
At a press conference detailing their capture, the US president said that, amid a power vacuum, Washington did not want a similar situation with another person coming in, only to have the “same situation for the last long period of years”.
A plane carrying Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores arrived at Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York. Maduro is set to face drugs and weapons charges in Manhattan federal court next week.
A flurry of local police and federal law enforcement were on site at a heliport in Manhattan where Maduro later arrived via helicopter.
Helicopters were seen landing at the heliport, where a source confirmed Maduro was en route, after which a motorcade of black SUVs, police vehicles and white vans cleared out of the area.
Trump told reporters earlier that the US is working with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who has demanded Maduro’s release and insisted he remains the country’s legitimate president. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s opposition leader, María Corina Machado, has called for an opposition candidate to assume power. Maduro’s capture has been met with celebrations in South Florida and apprehension in Caracas.
Trump called the operation to capture Maduro and his wife an “assault not seen since World War II”, hailing it as “one of the most stunning and effective displays of American power, might and competence” in history.
Comparing the strikes to Operation Midnight Hammer, which took out Iran’s nuclear facilities last July, and the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in 2020, Trump said that all Venezuelan military capabilities were “rendered powerless”.
The operation, which involved US air, land and sea forces, was a success, with no American casualties and no equipment lost, he added.
Trump confirmed both Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores will face drug and narco-terrorism charges in New York, having earlier posted on his Truth Social platform a picture of Maduro on board the warship USS Iwo Jima.
The Trump administration earlier said that the couple will face the “full wrath of American justice” under drug and terrorism charges.
“Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi posted on X.
At his press conference Trump blamed Maduro for carrying out a “ceaseless campaign of violence, terror and subversion” against the US, noting that this continued for many years after his term as president had “expired”.
This threatened not only the American people, but the stability of the entire region, he said. He added this was on top of rampant drug smuggling that inflicted “untold suffering and human destruction”, particularly in the US.
Trump also accused Maduro of sending members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to the US to “terrorise” communities nationwide, citing how they “took over” apartments in Colorado state and their alleged involvement in the killing of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston in 2024.
“Maduro again will never be able to threaten an American citizen,” he added.
Ahead of the overnight “large scale strike” on Venezuela, which led to Maduro’s capture, the US had accused the former bus driver of running a “narco-state” and rigging the 2024 election, which the country’s opposition said it won overwhelmingly.
A US embargo on all Venezuelan oil also remains in full effect, according to Trump.
Trump told reporters that US military forces would remain in position until its demands had been fully met.
“The American armada remains poised in position, and the United States retains all military options until United States demands have been fully met and fully satisfied,” he said, warning that this successful operation should put anyone threatening the sovereignty of Americans or endangering American lives on notice.
Attacks took place in the early hours of Saturday morning in the capital of Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira, prompting Venezuela’s government to declare a national emergency and call on social and political forces to “activate mobilisation plans”.
At least seven explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard around 2 a.m. local time (3 p.m., Thailand time) on Saturday in Caracas, with Venezuela separately saying that it rejected the “military aggression” by the US and called for an emergency United Nations meeting.
Caracas added that civilians and military personnel died in Saturday’s strikes but did not give figures.
Questions over legality of strikes
It remains unclear under what legal authority the latest US strikes were carried out, although the US does not recognise the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court
Trump’s move risks a backlash from the Congress, which has the constitutional right to declare war, and from his own political base, which favours an “America first” policy and largely opposes military intervention abroad.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the same press conference that the Trump administration notified members of Congress about the military operation in Venezuela immediately afterwards.
“This is not the kind of mission that you can do congressional notification on,” Rubio said. “It was a trigger-based mission in which conditions had to be met night after night.”
“Congress has a tendency to leak,” Trump added.
Mike Lee, a Republican senator from Utah, said on X that the action “likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect US personnel from an actual or imminent attack”.
But some Democrats were more critical.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said in a statement: “President Trump’s unauthorised military attack on Venezuela to arrest Maduro – however terrible he is – is a sickening return to a day when the United States asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere.”
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was also scathing. “If US military action and regime change in Venezuela was really about saving American lives from deadly drugs, then why hasn’t the Trump admin taken action against Mexican cartels?” she said.
And if prosecuting narco terrorists is a high priority, then why did President Trump pardon the former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted and sentenced for 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into America?”
The Trump administration has maintained that Maduro is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela and claims he effectively turned Venezuela into a criminal enterprise at the service of drug traffickers and terrorist groups.
CAPTIONS:
Top – In this July 13, 2025, file photo, US President Donald Trump looks on during the award ceremony for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Champions in East Rutherford, New Jersey. | In this Sept. 14, 2022, file photo, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro attends a meeting at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas. Photos – Angela Weiss, Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images and published by ABC News
First insert – One of the helicopters carrying Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores arrives after they were captured overnight in Venezuela by US forces, at the Westside Heliport in New York City, on Saturday. Photo – Jeenah Moon/Reuters and published by CNN
First insert – Soldiers guard the area around the Miraflores presidential palace after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 3, 2026. Photo: AP/Cristian Hernandez and published by CNA
Second insert – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores wave to supporters as they leave the Capitolio after taking the oath during the presidential inauguration in Caracas on Jan. 10, 2025. File photo: AFP/Juan Barreto and published by CNA
Front Page – US President Donald Trump holds a press conference as Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio look on following a US strike on Venezuela where President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured, from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, on Jan. 3, 2026. Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst and published by CNA
Watch a large crowd of Venezuelans gathered for a glimpse of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro as he is walked to the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn in this video shared by I Meme Therefore I Am @ImMeme0 at X.com
https://x.com/i/status/2007625857381384519
Also read;
Election Commission urged to look into Anutin’s Copay-Plus promise
937,000 voters wish to cast early votes
Movements by Cambodian troops observed but Thailand not threatened
People’s and Pheu Thai teams campaign at same Chiang Mai market on New Year’s Day
