President Donald Trump told reporters Saturday morning at Mar-a-Lago that the United States intends to “run” through Venezuela after former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was detained in an early morning raid.
During what President Trump called “one of the most amazing and effective days of American military power and capability in American history,” the United States carried out a major military offensive in Caracas that resulted in the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who will stand trial in New York on charges of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy.
President Trump praised the success of the raids, noting that “not a single American military member was killed and not a single piece of American equipment was lost,” likening the operation, which killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019, Iranian military officer Qassem Soleimani in 2020, and neutralized Iran’s nuclear program last summer, to a precision military operation.
“I want to thank the men and women of our military for achieving such extraordinary success overnight with breathtaking strength, precision and ability. We don’t see things like this very often,” Trump said.
President Trump claimed that the United States had “removed 97% of the drugs that come into[the United States]by sea,” much of it from Venezuela, and said, “We will continue to run this country until we have a safe, appropriate and wise transition of power.”
“We don’t want to be involved in someone else coming in and we’ve been in the same situation for the last few years. So we’re going to run the country until we can make a safe, appropriate and sensible transition. We have to be smart, because that’s what we’re all about,” he said.
President Trump said the United States “intended to essentially run the administration until we have a proper transition of power.”
Trump also said that “the very big oil companies in America” will “spend billions of dollars to repair our badly broken infrastructure, our oil infrastructure, and start making money for our country.”
Later, when asked who would govern Venezuela “for a period of time,” Trump said “the people who are standing right behind me,” apparently referring to U.S. officials such as Secretary of the Army Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain.
Hegseth praised those who carried out the “major joint military and law enforcement raid,” saying it was “perfectly executed” and should serve as a warning to other adversaries of the United States.
“Nicolas Maduro had a chance, just like Iran had a chance, until they missed it, until he missed it,” Hegseth said. “He walked around and noticed.”
Hegseth went on to warn that President Trump is “very serious about stemming the flow of gangs and violence into our country, very serious about stemming the flow of drugs and poisons to our people, very serious about recovering the oil stolen from our country, and very serious about re-establishing American deterrence and control in the Western Hemisphere.”
“This is about the safety, security, freedom and prosperity of the American people,” he added, warning that other adversaries “must always remain vigilant” that “the United States can project our will anywhere at any time.”
“What we all witnessed last night was the sheer grit, grit, bravery and glory of the American warrior,” Hegseth said.
Cain described the operation, dubbed Operation Absolute Resolve, as “careful, precise and carried out in the darkest hours of January 2nd”, noting that it took months of planning and rehearsal.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Maduro as an illegitimate president and a “fugitive from American justice with a $50 million bounty,” which he and Trump will no longer have to pay.
“Let’s be clear about one thing: President Nicolas Maduro had many opportunities to get away with this,” Rubio said. “He was offered multiple very, very, very generous offers and instead chose to act like a wild guy and goof around instead, and the result is what we saw tonight.”
Rubio suggested that such decisive U.S. action should serve as a warning to other countries, some of which have condemned recent U.S. actions against Maduro.
China, whose diplomatic officials met with President Maduro shortly before the U.S. attack, denounced the military action as an “act of hegemony” that “grossly violates international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty, and threatens peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
“What I want people to understand now is that we have a president. The 47th president of the United States is not a game player,” Rubio said. “When he tells you he’s going to do something, when he tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it.”
President Trump did not give a firm timeline for how long the United States would rule Venezuela, but said, “We want to do it quickly, but it will take a certain amount of time.”
Trump also referred to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, named after former President James Monroe, which has been used since the 19th century to assert U.S. primacy in the Western Hemisphere.
President Trump dubbed his version the “Don Roe Doctrine” and said, “America’s primacy in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.”
Originally published by Christian Post.
