The US president has told Fox News that there were ‘a few injuries but no deaths on our side’ during the strikes on Venezuela, as JD Vance bragged of pulling off a ‘truly impressive operation’
Donald Trump has said there were “a few injuries but no deaths on our side” during the strikes on Venezuela. It comes after the United States hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” early on Saturday and said its president, Nicolas Maduro, had been captured and flown out of the country after months of stepped-up pressure by Washington.
Maduro and his wife were seized from their bedroom at the dead of night and taken to the USS Iwo Jima by helicopter by the ultra-elite Delta Force unit before being indicted in the Southern District of New York.
The US Attorney General Pam Bondi says that he has been charged with “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States”.
She added: “They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” but does not say what his wife has been charged with.
But Brazilian President Lula da Silva says US strikes on Venezuela and capture of President Maduro “cross an unacceptable line”.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Gil said: “our country rises up in defense of its sovereignty” following US attack.
Speaking to Fox News ahead of a press conference this afternoon, Trump said that the US is going to be “strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil industry moving forward.
He added that he spoke to Maduro “a week ago” and that he told him “you have to give up, you have to surrender”.
“We had to do something much more surgical, much more powerful”, he said.
“We were going to do this four days ago but the weather was not perfect. The weather has to be perfect… all of a sudden it opened up and we said go,” he says.
He adds that, when they captured Maduro, he was “in a house that was more like a fortress than a house” with “solid steel all around”.
Reiterating that he doesn’t think any US soldiers were killed, Trump adds “a couple of guys were hit but they came back and they’re supposed to be in pretty good shape”.
He also said the overnight capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife “literally like I was watching a television show”.
“If you would’ve seen the speed, the violence, it was an amazing thing,” he said.
He praises his team as having done “an incredible job” and adds “there’s no other country on earth that could do such a manoeuvre”.
Meanwhile JD Vance posted 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. Kudos to our brave special operators who pulled off a truly impressive operation.”
A Trump news conference is scheduled for 4pm UK time (11am US time) Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
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