Breaking: Maduro and Wife ‘Captured and Flown out of the Country’
“Venezuela’s government condemned what it said was a ‘very serious grave military aggression.'”
Shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday, President Donald Trump confirmed on Truth Social that the U.S. had “successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who has been, along with his wife [Cilia Flores], captured and flown out of the Country.”
Trump noted the operation was conducted in “conjunction with U.S. law enforcement.” He added that he will provide details at an 11 a.m. news conference at Mar-a-Lago.
Maduro and his wife have been captured by the US!! pic.twitter.com/PijH6GCdVV
— Born to be FREE (@vioweil68626) January 3, 2026
From CNN:
A CNN team witnessed several explosions and heard the sounds of aircraft early Saturday in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, and reported that some areas of the city were without electricity.
The first blast witnessed by the CNN team was recorded at approximately 1:50 a.m. local time (12:50 a.m. ET).
In a statement before Trump’s announcement, Venezuela’s government condemned what it said was a “very serious grave military aggression,” and accused the US of carrying out an attack on Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
In a post-strike phone call with The New York Times, Trump said, “A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people. It was a brilliant operation, actually.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on X that Maduro and his wife have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. The charges include “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.”
BREAKING: Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York — AG Pam Bondi pic.twitter.com/gYSGBvgouu
— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) January 3, 2026
Early Saturday morning, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) reported on X that he had spoken to Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the strike and was informed that Maduro had 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.
He added, “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’s post followed an earlier message in which he questioned “what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.”
Just got off the phone with @SecRubio
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… https://t.co/lXCxhPoKSZ
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) January 3, 2026
Republicans largely cheered the news of Maduro’s capture. Vice President J.D. Vance responded to the operation on X: “The president offered multiple off ramps, but was very clear throughout this process: the drug trafficking must stop, and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States. Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says.”
The president offered multiple off ramps, but was very clear throughout this process: the drug trafficking must stop, and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States. Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says.
Kudos to our brave… pic.twitter.com/b1fqkdbB4x
— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 3, 2026
Cuban-born Rep. Carlos Giminez (R-FL), who knows a thing or two about living under a repressive regime, was overjoyed by the operation, equating it to “this hemisphere’s equivalent to the Fall of the Berlin Wall.”
Giménez wrote, “President Trump has changed the course of history in our hemisphere. Our country & the world are safer for it.”
BREAKING: Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL) hails President Trump's decisive military operation in Venezuela as "this hemisphere’s equivalent to the Fall of the Berlin Wall," praising the capture of Nicolás Maduro and expressing profound gratitude to U.S. service members for advancing… pic.twitter.com/ZlY084VaD1
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) January 3, 2026
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) was extremely supportive of the move. He wrote on X: “Nicolas Maduro wasn’t just an illegitimate dictator; he also ran a vast drug-trafficking operation. That’s why he was indicted in U.S. court nearly six years ago for drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.”
Nicolas Maduro wasn’t just an illegitimate dictator; he also ran a vast drug-trafficking operation. That’s why he was indicted in U.S. court nearly six years ago for drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. I just spoke to @SecRubio, who confirmed that Maduro is in U.S. custody and…
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) January 3, 2026
Democrats, as you might expect, largely condemned the action calling it unconstitutional. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) said “there is no justification for the United States to be at war with Venezuela. I lived through the consequences of an illegal war sold to the American people with lies. We swore we would never repeat those mistakes. Yet here we are again.”
Gallego is referring to the U.S. war with Iraq where he deployed with the Marines in 2005.
He is not alone. Many Democrats are spouting this talking point.
There is no justification for the United States to be at war with Venezuela.
I lived through the consequences of an illegal war sold to the American people with lies. We swore we would never repeat those mistakes. Yet here we are again.
The American people did not ask for this,…
— Senator Ruben Gallego (@SenRubenGallego) January 3, 2026
The clips below show aerial views of the strikes on Caracas, Venezuela’s capital city.
Video from above Caracas, Venezuela shows strikes across the Capitol overnight that led to the Capture of the wanted international criminal President Maduro. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/gwlYX8JiNy
— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) January 3, 2026
🚨🇻🇪🇺🇸— More imagery coming out of Caracas, Venezuela showing a closer view of strikes as well as what are reportedly US Chinook helicopters over the city. #Venezuela / #USA / #USAvenezuelaWar / #Canada / #WW3 / #newfront pic.twitter.com/wtAtQTZUNH
— 🇷🇺 Vanguard-Veritas🇨🇦 (@RussCan91) January 3, 2026
Over the past four months, the U.S. has carried out strikes on more than 30 vessels in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific believed to be transporting drugs out of Venezuela, killing over 100 suspected narco-terrorists. More recently, he has threatened that he would soon be ordering attacks on targets inside the country.
If CNN’s sources are correct, on December 30, the CIA conducted a drone strike “on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela,” marking the first land attack on the South American country. [CNN was the first media outlet to report this story.]
Given Maduro’s connections to hostile actors across the globe — including the leadership of Cuba, Iran, Hezbollah, and others — this strike will have worldwide repercussions.
This is a developing story and updates will be added.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
Apparently, they leveled the mausoleum of Hugo Chavez. I’m sure the left will call that a war crime.
He was resting in peace.
Now he is resting in pieces.
But, now that the smoldering is done, those pieces are resting in peace.
Fu*k the left. Tearing down monuments is ‘tre chic’, remember?
good one
That falls under postumously FAFO
Kind of like how the Brits dug up Oliver Cromwell and his corpse was “executed” posthumously. Good times.
I thought he and his wife were arrested. There was a warrant and everything.
TY Elizabeth.. great article, so quickly!!!
Oh.. and can you hear the typing?… TROs coming….
Whatever, today is going to be lit.
This operation will be justified as executing the criminal warrant and responding to an international drug cartel, a very similar legal framework to the one used against Noriega. There is precedent supporting that earlier operation, which will now be used to defend the actions in Venezuela.
You are probably right. But I have mixed feelings about this one. There will surely be a lot of diplomatic fallout. I am partly in sympathy with the criticism that will durely be leveled. Military force is by nature heavy-handed. Further, the US really needs to consider the wisdom of J.Q. Adams when he said that the USA does not go abroad in search of dragons to slay, and should be well-wisher to liberty everywhere, but champion only of its own.
However, I am aware of the 2o2o indictment against Maduro. Further, this apparently surgical strike in Venezuela may also be a message to Tubaluvia that since the UK returned Hong Kong, Tubaluvia has no reason to wage its own Opium War–oops, proxy Fentanyl War–on anyone, especially the USA.
I have thought about this, but I cannot associate any person or place with Tubaluvia. Can you explain the reference please?
Obviously a reference to China, but I can’t figure it out either. Some kind of connection to the Biblical Tuval?
Thing to remember while listening to the Dems and Press knee-jerk to condemn the arrest and prosecution as Trump acting crazy or illegally – effectively defending Maduro’s right to import drugs to the US – is that the initial warrant for his arrest occurred SIX YEARS AGO under both a Dem admin and DOJ.
The only difference is that the current guys in charge actually had the willingness and cojones to do more than issue a PR-driven arrest warrant with no intent to ever execute it.
It happened in 2020. That was the first Trump administration.
The Biden administration announced a slew of new sanctions against allies of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in opposition to his claim of election victory, calling his Friday inauguration “illegitimate” and a “desperate attempt to seize power.”
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5079514-biden-venezuela-sanctions-maduro-inauguration-trump-dhs-tps/
“President Nicolás Maduro”
He’s not a president. He’s a drug lord.
There’s no reason he can’t be both. And until yesterday he was both. Now he’s neither.
Exactly what I said to the wife this morning.
So effectively that’s the Hamas/Hesbullah branch of South America shut down.
I expect Democrats to come out in support of Madura in Three….Two….
With Iran seemingly in the throes of right sinking their Government and the Ukraine war effectively over what are we going to do with all this peace about to break out?
Must be time for a new pandemic? 🤔
They’re already claiming this was either a distraction from Epstein or Jack Smith. Leftists are as always, predictably stupid.
A sigh of relief from Ethiopians.
They’ll at least be off the front page for a day or two.
Somalis, not Ethiopians.
I like “reliably stupid.” And “too stupid to know they are being stupid.”
The vile, stupid and evil Dhimmi-crats never met a Bolshevik, communist, Islamofascist/Muslim terrorist or other totalitarian whom they didn’t attempt to lionize, coddle, kowtow to and otherwise enable.
This case will somehow be assigned “randomly” to Boasburg or whatever his name is.
They filed in the Southern District of New York.
A New York Man?
Sen Van Hollen will be the first Democrat to visit Maduro and his wife in detention, demanding his release and assuring them he will seek due process. But as Geroni points out, Boasberg or Jackson will get this case and will surely throw the Government’s case out, and order their return to Venezuela.
The USA has reasserted its hegemonic power within the hemisphere. More importantly under Trump 2.0 it has begun the shift of focus and deployment of forces away from areas halfway around the world or more and is putting far higher (IMO long overdue) priority on security close to home. Brilliant OP, achieved the goal, grabbed the narcoterrorist/commie dictator and took him to stand trial.
Southern district of NY? Maduro will have a battery of Democrat lawyers and eventually let go to return home.
Maduro is not popular in Venezuela. The majority of Venezuelans have not seen him as a legitimate or effective leader for a long time. His removal is being celebrated in the US and some early signs of relief inside Venezuela.
Even if not convicted, his return is nearly impossible. There will be new leadership in place. His inner circle is gone. And given his unpopularity, any attempt to return would likely spark massive protests or rejection.
He is out in the cold.
I hope you are right.
I hear it is warm at Guantanamo.
let go to
return homelive in luxury in Paris.FIFY
Moscow. Moscow is the new high-level refugee location
Maduro was previously charged with a criminal indictment in New York in March, 2020. Last night’s action was a legal enforcement action with the use of the US military. The Democrats, Garcia (AZ), have begun to criticize Trump saying he can not start a war without seeking Congressional approval under the War Powers Act.
Jonathan Turley has a piece out this morning that disputes the Democrsts claims.
So far no US soldiers refused to do the job based on thinking they were being given unlawful orders.
So far, no US soldiers appear to have refused. If some did, you certainly wouldn’t know about it at this stage.
The kind of soldiers involved in this operation are the kind of soldiers who will kill anybody at any time for any reason with no questions asked.
The ad released about disobeying unlawful orders was no doubt directed at national guardsmen or some wimps who might be in doubt.
Soldiers, all soldiers, are trained and taught that they must not obey orders that they know to be unlawful, or that are obviously unlawful. If we have soldiers who “will kill anybody at any time for any reason with no questions asked” then that is a problem.
But “unlawful” in this context means that the soldier is being ordered to commit a crime. If a soldier is given an otherwise valid order to do something that would not violate any law that he knows of, then as far as I know it’s none of his business to speculate on whether the person who originated the order had the authority to do so. That would be a matter for that person to deal with.
Even if ordering the operation was beyond the president’s powers, the orders themselves would not have been unlawful, i.e. the soldiers carrying them out would not have been committing a crime.
“Unlawful order” in this context means an order to violate the law, and I can’t think of any law the soldiers would have been violating. Any infringement by the president on Congress’s rights would be way above their pay grade.
Turley
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-why-capture-maduro-didnt-require-approval-from-congress
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/01/03/the-united-states-captures-nicolas-maduro-and-his-wife/comment-page-2/
This is what I’ve said for decades.
If Americans in authority WANTED the drugs to stop, they would stop.
The cartels don’t operate in secret in their countries. We know who their leaders are, and where they live. We know where their compounds are. We can use satellites to watch their drug boats make giant shipments at a time.
Maybe not 100% stop them, but all it takes to do serious damage and massive reductions is somebody in authority with the WILL to order military strikes.
And that’s exactly what Trump is doing. Making their leaders know that they are NOT safe and can’t live in their giant mansions with their drug money anymore.
MAKE them operate in secret like the terrorists they are.
It would stop if Americans quit buying them
people who have ( all sorts of) issues buy drugs
so its not just the hillary/barak..its our fault for the demand,, agenda
We did that before. It was stopped for a reason (good or bad).
“Maybe not 100% stop them, but all it takes to do serious damage and massive reductions is somebody in authority with the WILL to order military strikes.”
Supply and demand. The price will go up and Democrats will blame Trump for rising cost of illegal drugs.
Too many politicians are making a lot of money from big pharma selling Narcan products. Of course they didn’t want the drug flow to end.
Also, the left is nothing if not predictable.
I can already predict what the left is going to start screaming about this.
It’s going to be three things:
1) TRUMP SHOULD BE IMPEACHED THIS IS A VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
2) THE FACT TRUMP DOESN’T TRY TO DO THIS TO PUTIN PROVES HE IS RUSSIA STOOGE
3) THIS MEANS WE CAN KIDNAP NETANYAHU AND PUT HIM ON TRIAL
The left is nothing if not predictable.
Let the leftists cry. Every scream, screech, and wail will tell the world they want the deadly drugs in our country. Makes you wonder who’s getting a few bucks under the table, doesn’t it?
.
Just like Poirot said, ‘This is extraordinary – they cannot ALL be in it! And then, Messieurs, I saw light. They were ALL in it.’
Carlin had these politicians pegged.
It’s a big club. And YOU AIN’T IN IT.
“THE FACT TRUMP DOESN’T TRY TO DO THIS TO PUTIN PROVES HE IS RUSSIA STOOGE”
He’s just working his way down the list. Next stop? The mullahs…but I don’t think they’ll be arrested.
1. I don’t think there’s any question that this was indeed a violation of “international law”, such as it is, and therefore if the House were to object to it and decide to impeach Trump for it that would be completely legitimate. Indeed it’s exactly the sort of thing the impeachment power was intended for. Likewise if two thirds of the senate were to agree with the House’s objection, it would be legitimate for them to remove him from office for it. But I’m pretty sure a solid majority in both houses supports this action, and therefore it’s not a problem.
2. Even if Trump wanted to do this to Putin, it would be a very stupid thing to do, and definitely impeachable if he were to do it.
3. As far as I know Netanyahu hasn’t violated any US law. But sure, if a future president were to decide that it was in the USA’s interest to kidnap him and start a war with Israel, that would be within his power, subject only to Congress’s power to impeach and remove him for it if they didn’t agree. If they were fine with it, then it wouldn’t be a problem. There are many things the president could do but won’t, because he has no desire to and because they would be completely insane.
You forgot “distraction from his non presence in the Epstein files.”
It’s coming….
I have to say that The Monroe Doctrine makes sense, and I would like to remind naysayers that the U.S. has consistently enforced it. The list of American military incursions into Central and South America is surprisingly long. – perhaps 15 or 20 times; too many to list here.
However, as someone who has had a foolish affair with a crazy woman, I confess to recalling the lesson my grand pappy tried to teach me to no avail:
“Gettin’ in is easy- it’s gettin’ out that’s hard.
Yes yes, but how does it affect Israel?!
We were heavily involved in the removal of Pablo Escobar. History repeats.
Colombians executed Escobar (although we trained them, I think), you mean Noriega?
Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices
What the frack?!? How in the heck do you indict them for something that could only be illegal if they were in the US? Are they going to provide us failure theater again? I’m surprised a judge hasn’t already found Trump in violation of habeus corpus (which is likely why the Maduro’s are in an “undisclosed location”).
Certainly a charge brainlessly designed to alienate Trump further from one of his most loyal but sadly abused domestic constituencies.
First step was taking Maduro and his wife to NY. That’s the legal cover. Taking out the Iranian training sites and Air Force sites was the main mission. Next to fall is the Columbian President. Then the screws applied to Cuba in the same way. President Trump is demonstrating to the world the principal results of when regimes FAFO.
Michelle Obama said for the second time in her adult life she is proud of her country.
Then I woke up.
she meant somalia
No worries for the Minnesomalians! They’re off the hook for now. LOL
even fjb knew that maduro used dems cheating methods to take control
come on mannn
china calls this incursion on their territory a human rights violation
China calls this incursion on their territory.
……..Sum Ting Wong
It’s a human rights violation.
…….Bang Ding Ow.
one of the top funniest pranks everyyy pulled on the msm
Hey Democrats, now do Obama’s unconstitutional war against Qaddafi.
With the aid of subcommander Hillary Clinton…. (“We came, we say, he died.”)
I;m looking forward to the movie. There is always a movie. I wonder when it will come out?
if lefty hollywood makes the movie…….
I think “against the United States” modifies both of the previous charges, i.e. the third charge should be read as “Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States”. And that would be the key part of the charge.
Even so, I don’t see how the USA can make it a crime to possess anything, even for the purpose of waging war against it, in another country. After all, even actually waging war against the USA is not a crime, and Congress can’t make it a crime, except for US citizens and possibly residents. And obviously it can’t make it a crime to merely conspire to wage war against the USA, again except for US citizens and possibly residents. So how can it make it a crime to merely possess weapons for such a purpose, let alone to conspire to possess weapons for that purpose?
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