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.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
The clips below show aerial views of the strikes on Caracas, Venezuela’s capital city.
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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