{"id":195721,"date":"2026-01-05T03:41:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T03:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/nicolas-maduro-wife-in-new-york-to-face-charges-after-us-strikes-on-venezuela-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T03:41:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T03:41:44","slug":"nicolas-maduro-wife-in-new-york-to-face-charges-after-us-strikes-on-venezuela-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/nicolas-maduro-wife-in-new-york-to-face-charges-after-us-strikes-on-venezuela-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, wife in New York to face charges after US strikes on Venezuela – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

This page reflects the news from Venezuelan leader Nicola\u0301s Maduro<\/em>‘s capture on Saturday, Jan. 3. For the\u00a0latest updates read USA TODAY’s live coverage for\u00a0Sunday, Jan. 4.<\/a><\/em>\u00a0
Venezuelan leader Nicola\u0301s Maduro and his wife<\/a> arrived in New York on Saturday evening to face several criminal charges after the United States conducted a large-scale operation<\/a> in Caracas that captured the couple.
Following the operation, President Donald Trump<\/a> said the United States will \u201crun\u201d Venezuela but did not provide details on how his administration plans to do that.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. \u201cIt has to be judicious, because that’s what we are all about.\u201d
Although Trump said that his administration is determining who will be in charge of the country, the Constitutional Chamber of Venezuela’s\u00a0Supreme\u00a0Court\u00a0ordered on Jan. 3 that Vice President Delcy Rodri\u0301guez assume the role of acting president of the country in the absence of Nicola\u0301s Maduro.
The United States carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela<\/a> overnight, Trump announced in a Truth Social post in the early hours of Saturday. Congress was not notified ahead of the strikes due to concerns that lawmakers would \u201cleak,\u201d the president said. Some Democrats have criticized the president\u2019s actions<\/a>, with some calling it an \u201cunjustified war.\u201d
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores<\/a>, were taken to New York, where they have been indicted on federal drug and weapons charges<\/a> and “will soon face the full wrath of American justice,” Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/a> said.
Venezuela’s government declared a state of emergency and denounced what it called “extremely serious military aggression” by the U.S.
Follow along for the latest updates below.
In the first clear video of the Venezuelan leader since he arrived on U.S. soil Saturday evening, Maduro is shown being walked down a hallway by federal agents.
The 12-second clip was posted to X by Fox News Contributor<\/a> Paul Mauro and shared by the White House. In the post, which said “perp walked,” Maduro is clutching a bottle of water and dressed in black pants, a black hoodie and hat.\u00a0
His hands appear to be restrained, while three agents walk him down a hallway with a carpet that reads \u201cDEA.\u201d He is overheard saying, \u201cgoodnight\u201d and \u201chappy New Year\u201d before walking out of the video frame.
-Kathryn Palmer<\/em>
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean\u00a0Duffy\u00a0said on Saturday the restrictions around the Caribbean airspace would expire at midnight ET and flights could resume. Airlines were informed and will update their schedules quickly,\u00a0Duffy\u00a0posted on X.
The post comes after major airlines had canceled hundreds of flights on Jan. 3 following the U.S. military operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Maduro and his wife.
American Airlines, Delta, United AirLines, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines and JetBlue Airways had begun cancelling flights early on Saturday morning in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration airspace closures in the Caribbean. Several European and South American airlines had also canceled flights.
The FAA closed the airspace to U.S. carriers “due to safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing military activity,” the agency said in a notice to airmen.
Over 300 flights originating and arriving to Puerto Rico were canceled as of midday on Jan. 3, according to flight-tracking website\u00a0FlightAware<\/a>. Several U.S. airlines rolled out fee waivers and flexible rebooking options<\/a> as airspace restrictions disrupted flights to and from Puerto Rico and other Caribbean destinations.
\u2212 Josh Rivera, USA TODAY; Reuters<\/em>
Venezuelan American Miriam Hidalgo<\/a>, 66, woke up at 3 a.m. to a phone call she\u2019s waited decades to receive.
Her brother, calling from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, told her that President Nicola\u0301s Maduro had been taken into custody, according to reports circulating in the country amid overnight explosions in the country’s capital, Caracas.
\u201cI\u2019ve been waiting for this for so many years,\u201d Hidalgo told The Palm Beach Post near Mar-a-Lago, where she joined other supporters celebrating what they believe is a turning point for Venezuela. \u201cAfter 30 years living in this country, to see the government doing something so wonderful, it makes me so happy.\u201d
Edgar Rodriguez got his call about the operation in Caracas two hours before Hildago. He stood in a sea of Venezuela’s colors \u2014 red, blue and yellow \u2014 outside the El Arepazo restaurant in Doral, Florida.
\u201cIt\u2019s 26 years of a nightmare,\u201d Rodriguez, a coordinator for Vente Venezuela, the political party many say ousted Maduro from the presidency in the 2024 election. \u201cSo many innocent people have died. There are so many tortured political prisoners and families separated by people being forced to flee the country.\u201d
\u201cToday is the day of freedom,\u201d Rodriguez added. \u201cToday, that nightmare finally comes to an end.\u201d
\u2212 Valentina Palm, Antonio Fins and Hannah Phillips, USA TODAY Network<\/em>
Venezuelan leader Nicola\u0301s Maduro<\/a> and his wife, Cilia Flores<\/a>, landed in the United States on Saturday to face federal drug and weapons charges, hours after a dramatic raid on the couple’s Caracas home by U.S. special forces and transportation over sea and air to New York, according to reports.
A plane carrying Maduro landed at Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York, according to CNN and MS NOW.
Maduro faces charges of “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States,” Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/a> said.
\u2013Kathryn Palmer<\/em>
About 30 protesters were standing in the frigid cold outside Stewart Air National Guard, holding signs and chanting as they awaited Maduro\u2019s arrival. Many were members of the Mid-Hudson chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, and they had started their rally around 1 p.m. ET.
They were still there when the plane carrying Maduro passed over their heads at roughly 4:30 p.m. ET and landed within sight on a Stewart runway.
\u201cNo war on Venezuela,\u201d \u201cNo more bombs,\u201d and \u201cNo illegal war\u201d were some of the messages they displayed to a steady steam of passing drivers, as speakers took turn leading protest chants with a bullhorn.
\u201cVenezuela is a country with over 30 million people,\u201d Daniel Atonna, a Poughkeepsie city councilman and DSA member who took part in the protest, told the USA TODAY network. \u201cTrump has unilaterally declared war on them by bombing their capital and kidnapping their president. He’s done this without the consent of Congress or the American people.\u201c
Some drivers honked and waved in support as they passed in the slow-moving traffic One man flashed his middle finger. A lone counter-protester stood across the busy road from the protest, heckling and taking pictures.
\u2013Chris McKenna, USA TODAY Network<\/em>
GOP Sen. Susan Collins, the head of the Appropriations Committee, said Congress should have been notified about the military operation in Venezuela earlier and should be involved \u201cas this situation evolves.\u201d
Collins of Maine said Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> briefed her Saturday morning. She said \u201cthe mission appears to have been a limited scope operation\u201d in conjunction with law enforcement to apprehend an alleged narco-terrorist and international drug trafficker.
\u201cCongress should have been informed about the operation earlier and needs to be involved as this situation evolves,\u201d Collins said in a statement. \u201cThe long-term success of today\u2019s operation will depend on our ability to work with international and private sector partners.\u201d
\u2013<\/em><\/em><\/em>Bart Jansen<\/em>
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodri\u0301guez launched a national defense council with all of the current members of the country’s cabinet after Maduro’s capture on Saturday.
Although Rodriguez denounced the Trump administration’s “kidnapping” of Maduro saying Venezuela will never be a colony of any nation, Rodri\u0301guez signaled an openness to dialogue with the United States.\u00a0
“There is a government here with a clear vision,” Rodri\u0301guez said on state television from Caracas. “I repeat and reiterate our president’s words: We are ready for respectful relations. We are ready for relations within the framework of international law and the laws of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
Trump during his press conference earlier Saturday said Rubio had a conversation with Rodri\u0301guez, who Maduro picked as his vice president in 2018.\u00a0
\u201cShe\u2019s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,\u201d Trump said.
Democratic leaders of the Senate and House called Trump\u2019s plan to run Venezuela<\/a> \u201cunacceptable\u201d and said the administration should brief congressional leaders about the military action in Venezuela immediately and the rest of Congress next week.
\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s announced plan to run Venezuela is unacceptable,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, said in a joint statement. \u201cIt is critical that the Trump administration provide an immediate Gang of Eight briefing, followed by briefings for all Members of the House and Senate early next week.\u201d
\u2013<\/em><\/em>Bart Jansen<\/em>
Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who has announced he won\u2019t seek reelection this year<\/a>, said he worried the U.S. attack on Venezuela will be used to defend Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine or a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
Bacon, a former brigadier general in the Air Force, said the military action was great for Venezuela, after Maduro\u2019s rule.
\u201cMy main concern now is that Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan,\u201d Bacon said on social media<\/a>. \u201cFreedom and rule of law were defended last night, but dictators will try to exploit this to rationalize their selfish objectives.\u201d
\u2013<\/em>Bart Jansen<\/em>
Nicola\u0301s Maduro<\/a>\u2019s son Nicola\u0301s Maduro (Jr.) Guerra<\/a>, 35, is listed in the indictment charging the Venezuelan leader with narco-terrorism. A member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Guerra is also known as “Nicolasito” or “The Prince,” according to the court filing.
Born to his father’s first wife, Adriana Guerra Angulo in 1990, Guerra began assisting in drug operations as early as 2014, according to the indictment. A deputy in his father’s government, Guerra has been seen by many as a successor of the\u00a0Cha\u0301vismo movement<\/a>, the socialistic ideology established by Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Cha\u0301vez.
The indictment, signed by Jay Clayton<\/a>, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, describes Guerra\u2019s involvement in a drug operation starting in 2014 during which his plane “would be loaded, sometimes with the assistance of armed sergeants, with large packages wrapped in tape that the captain understood were drugs.\u201d Guerra helped ship \u201chundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Venezuela to Miami\u201d in 2017,\u201d the court filing says.
About 2020, Guerra met with two representatives of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) in Medellin, Colombia to discuss “arrangements to move large quantities of cocaine and weapons through Colombia and into the United States over the course of the next six years,” the filing says.
\u2212Mike Snider<\/em>
A couple of House Republicans who have become vocal critics of Trump objected to the military operation.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, questioned on social media the constitutionality<\/a> of the military action. He also noted the indictment against Maduro didn\u2019t mention fentanyl or stolen oil<\/a> that Trump has previously cited in complaints against Venezuela.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, who earlier resigned effective Jan. 5, said if Trump were interested prosecuting narco-terrorists, he wouldn\u2019t have pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez,<\/a> who was serving a 45-year prison term for cocaine trafficking.
Greene suggested controlling Venezuela\u2019s oil could be a step toward pursuing regime change in Iran.
\u201cThe next obvious observation is that by removing Maduro this is a clear move for control over Venezuelan oil supplies that will ensure stability for the next obvious regime change war in Iran,\u201d Greene said on social media<\/a>.
Trump said while justifying the attack on Venezuela that Hernandez was prosecuted “very unfairly.”
\u2013Bart Jansen<\/em>
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> condemned the American military actions in Venezuela as “regime change” violating international and federal law. Mamdani, a democratic socialist who took office Jan. 1, said he was briefed on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicola\u0301s Maduro and his wife, and their transfer to federal custody in New York.
\u201cUnilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law,\u201d Mamdani said in a statement. \u201cThis blatant pursuit of regime change\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0just affect those abroad, it directly\u00a0impacts\u00a0New Yorkers, including tens of thousands of Venezuelans who call this city home.\u201d
Mamdani previously stopped short<\/a> of calling Maduro a dictator, saying he hadn\u2019t thought about the issue, but said his government was repressive. Later, Mamdani reportedly called<\/a> Maduro and Cuban President Miguel Di\u0301az-Canel dictators, and also said \u201cpunitive\u201d U.S. policies had worsened conditions in their countries.
New York received large numbers of Venezuelan migrants<\/a> seeking asylum during the Biden administration.
Mamdani later told reporters<\/a> he had called Trump and spoke with him directly to express his opposition to American military actions in Venezuela.
\u2212Eduardo Cuevas<\/em>
Gen. Dan Caine, an Air Force general who serves as Trump\u2019s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recounted a timeline of the raid.
Although the military assets for the mission were in place in December, according to the four-star general, the attack was delayed until the weather \u201cbroke just enough\u201d and in order to \u201cminimize the potential for civilian harm and maximize the element of surprise and minimize the harm\u201d to Maduro.
Trump gave the go-ahead order at 10:46 p.m. ET, Caine said. (Caracas is one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time.)
The raid involved aircraft and troops from 20 different bases \u201cacross the Western Hemisphere,\u201d according to Caine.
Caine indicated that intelligence and cyber forces helped deactivate Venezuela\u2019s air defenses, some of which were also targeted by airstrikes.
The assault force, which CBS News reported was led by the Army\u2019s elite Delta Force and included law enforcement personnel, landed at Maduro\u2019s compound via helicopter at 1:01 a.m. ET.
The mission\u2019s helicopters \u201ccame under fire\u201d from Venezuelan defenders, Caine said, and attack helicopters accompanying the force returned fire and destroyed targets in the area.
The raid force captured Maduro and his wife while they were trying to flee to a safe room in the compound, Trump said in a phone interview with “Fox & Friends” earlier Saturday morning.
Caine indicated that U.S. forces were also shot at while leaving Venezuelan airspace. An unknown number of U.S. troops were injured during the mission, Reuters previously reported.
\u00a0\u2013Davis Winkie<\/em>
Trump called Cuba<\/a> a \u201cfailing nation\u201d and similar to Venezuela because the U.S. \u201cwants to help the people in Cuba, but we want to also help the people that were forced out of Cuba and living in this country.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Cuba a \u201cdisaster\u201d and said it \u201ctook over\u201d Venezuela. Venezuelans \u201chave to declare independence from Cuba,\u201d Rubio said.
Venezuelan oil plays a major role in economically supporting Cuba, which has been economically hobbled by decades of heavy U.S. sanctions.
\u2212Cybele Mayes-Osterman<\/em>
Trump said he didn\u2019t notify Congress of the military actions in Venezuela because lawmakers \u201cwill leak, and we don\u2019t want leakers.\u201d
\u201cCongress has a tendency to leak,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThis would not be good.\u201d
Trump said there was danger of any advanced warning of military strikes, but added Venezuelan officials knew the American military was coming.
Moments earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration didn\u2019t tell Congress because it was a \u201ctrigger-based mission\u201d in which conditions had to be met each night. \u201cIt\u2019s just not the mission you can pre-notify because it endangers the mission,\u201d Rubio said.
Rubio also pointed to the indictment against Maduro by the Department of Justice, and the military supported the Justice Department in his arrest.
On Jan. 3, Democratic and Republican lawmakers both said they weren’t notified in advance.\u00a0
\u2212Eduardo Cuevas<\/em>
Trump indicated that the administration had not spoken to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado about leading the country and argued that she does not have the internal support.
Trump said it would be \u201cvery tough\u201d for Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize<\/a> in 2025, to lead the country.\u00a0
\u201cShe doesn\u2019t have the support within or the respect within the county,\u201d Trump said at a news conference.
\u2212Francesca Chambers<\/em>
President Donald Trump said Venezuela\u2019s oil infrastructure is \u201cold\u201d and \u201crotted.\u201d Much of it is \u201cstuff we put there 20 years ago,\u201d he said, apparently referencing Venezuela\u2019s nationalization of its oil industry in 1976.
\u201cWe\u2019re going to be replacing it, and we\u2019re going to take a lot of money out so we can take care of the country,\u201d Trump said.
\u2212<\/em>Cybele Mayes-Osterman<\/em>
Trump said his message to Venezuelans is that they are going to have \u201cpotentially a great country\u201d after the U.S. capture of Nicola\u0301s Maduro and strikes around the country. \u00a0
\u201cYou\u2019re going to have peace, justice, you\u2019re going to have some of the riches that you should\u2019ve had for a long period of time that was stolen from you,\u201d Trump said.\u00a0
\u2212Jeanine Santucci<\/em>
Asked whether U.S. military troops will remain in Venezuela as part of the United States \u201crunning\u201d the country, President Donald Trump said \u201cwe\u2019re not afraid of boots on the ground.\u201d\u00a0
\u201cWe\u2019re going to make sure that country is run properly. We\u2019re not doing this in vain,\u201d Trump said. \u00a0
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces \u201cremain in the region at a high state of readiness.\u201d\u00a0
\u2212Jeanine Santucci<\/em>
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at the president’s news conference, said Maduro had plenty of warnings, and could have left the county.\u00a0
“But instead he wanted to play big boy,” Rubio said.
\u2212Francesca Chambers<\/em>
During the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, one U.S. aircraft was hit but \u201cremained flyable\u201d for the rest of the mission, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Jan. 3 news conference at Mar-a-Lago.
U.S. troops faced \u201cmultiple self-defense engagements as the force began to withdraw from Venezuela,\u201d Caine said.
President Donald Trump said that \u201cnot a single\u201d U.S. servicemember was killed, and \u201cnot a single\u201d piece of equipment was lost during the operation.
\u2212Cybele Mayes-Osterman<\/em>
Gen. Dan \u201cRazin\u201d Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the complex raid, characterizing it as \u201can audacious operation that only the United States could do.\u201d
The Air Force general emphasized the amount of planning that went into the mission to capture Maduro, noting that it required coordination between all branches of the military and intelligence agencies including the CIA, National Security Agency and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
\u201cThe word integration does not explain the sheer complexity of such a mission, an extraction so precise it involved more than 150 aircraft launching across the Western Hemisphere in close coordination,\u201d Caine said. \u201cFailure of one component of this well-oiled machine would have endangered the entire mission, and failure is never an option for America\u2019s joint force.\u201d
\u2013Davis Winkie<\/em>
President Donald Trump said in a news conference after he ordered U.S. forces to seize Venezuelan President Nicola\u0301s Maduro that \u201cvery large oil companies\u201d will spend \u201cbillions of dollars\u201d in Venezuela, which has the largest oil reserves of any nation worldwide.
\u201cThe oil business has been a total bust,\u201d Trump said of Venezuela\u2019s oil, which is produced and controlled by a government-run company. \u201cThey were pumping almost nothing in.\u201d
\u201cVery large US oil companies\u201d will \u201cgo in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure,\u201d and \u201cstart making money for the country,\u201d Trump said.
Chevron is the only American company that currently has access to Venezuelan oil, through a joint venture with the state-run company.
\u2212Cybele Mayes-Osterman<\/em>
Hours after his administration struck Venezuela and deposed its president, President Donald Trump said at a Saturday news conference that the U.S. plans to run the country until a transition in leadership can take place.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said.
Trump said, “It has to be judicious, because that’s what we are all about.\u201d
The president did not immediately provide additional details on how the U.S. planned to manage the sovereign nation.
During an interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” earlier in the day, Trump declined to say whether he would back Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize<\/a>, for the presidency.
\u2212Francesca Chambers<\/em>
President Donald Trump posted a photo of Nicola\u0301s Maduro<\/a> on board the USS Iwo Jima, a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship, where he was being held with his wife.
The photo shows Maduro in a gray sweatsuit, holding a water bottle and wearing what appeared to be noise-suppressing earmuffs and a dark covering over his eyes.
Maduro and his wife will be taken to New York to face charges of drug trafficking in an indictment, Trump has said.
\u2212Jeanine Santucci<\/em>
Several Latin American leaders condemned the American military actions in Venezuela.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the left-wing leader whose country borders Venezuela, said in an X post<\/a> that the strike crossed an \u201cunacceptable line\u201d that set \u201canother extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community.\u201d
In a statement<\/a>, the government of Mexico said it \u201cstrongly condemns and rejects the military actions unilaterally carried out by American armed forces.\u201d
Conservative allies of President Donald Trump in the region celebrated the actions.
\u201cFREEDOM ADVANCES\u201d Argentinian President Javier Milei said on X<\/a>. Chilean President-elect Jose\u0301 Antonio Kast Rist called Maduro\u2019s arrest \u201cgreat news for the region.\u201d
In an \u201curgent call for de-escalation,\u201d Gustavo Petro, the left-wing president of Colombia who has frequently feuded with Trump, said<\/a> his country would move to “preserve stability” along its border with Venezuela and address \u201ceventual humanitarian or migratory needs.\u201d
\u2212Eduardo Cuevas<\/em>
Maduro’s federal indictment<\/a> charges him with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and two illegal weapons counts.
The indictment also sought the seizure of any belongings that resulted from the alleged criminal conspiracy.
Maduro \u201csits atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking,\u201d the indictment said.
Other defendants include Diosdado Cabello Rondon, Venezuela’s minister of interior, justice and peace; Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, the former minister of interior and justice; first lady Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro; the president\u2019s son, Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra, a member of the country\u2019s national assembly; and the alleged leader of the crime gang Tren de Aragua, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores.
\u2212Bart Jansen<\/em>
Vice President JD Vance<\/a> argued that Maduro\u2019s capture was legitimate because he faces multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism.
\u201cYou don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas,\u201d Vance said on social media<\/a>.
Vance said Trump had offered Maduro several options to avoid a military attack<\/a> but that U.S. demands were clear that \u201cdrug trafficking must stop, and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States.\u201d
\u201cMaduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says,\u201d Vance said.
\u2212Bart Jansen<\/em>
The Venezuelan leader and his wife were being held on the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship, in the Caribbean, Trump told Fox news.
“They’re on a ship, but they’ll be heading into New York. The helicopters took them out,” Trump said. “A nice flight, I’m sure they loved it. They’ve killed a lot of people.”
“Even people in their own country, they killed a lot of people to maintain power,” Trump added. “He’s a very vicious person.”
\u2212Francesca Chambers<\/em>
President Trump told Fox news in a phone interview that, as far as he knows, no U.S. forces were killed and no American aircraft were lost during the overnight strike on Venezuela.\u00a0
\u201cI think we had nobody killed,\u201d Trump said. \u201cA couple of guys were hit, but they came back, and they\u2019re supposed to be in pretty good shape.\u201d
One U.S. helicopter was hit hard, Trump added, but the U.S. was able to recover it.
\u2212<\/em>Francesca Chambers<\/em>
Democratic lawmakers accused the Trump administration of conducting an illegal war with Venezuela and misleading Congress about the purpose of its strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean after the U.S. bombed the country and captured its leader overnight.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Iraq war veteran who represents Arizona, called the strike the \u201csecond unjustified war in my life time\u201d in a social media post.
\u201cThis war is illegal, it\u2019s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year,\u201d Gallego said<\/a>.”
Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said the U.S. has \u201cno vital national interests in Venezuela to justify war<\/a>\u201d and the nation should \u201chave learned not to stumble into another stupid adventure by now.\u201d\u00a0
Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey, said on X<\/a> that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> told senators during a December briefing<\/a> that the seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers and strikes on alleged drug boats were not about regime change.
\u201cI didn\u2019t trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress. Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war,\u201d Kim said.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, called Maduro \u201ca thug and an illegitimate leader of Venezuela,\u201d but said terrorizing and oppressing his people didn\u2019t justify Trump \u201ctrampling the Constitution.\u201d
\u201cActing without Congressional approval or the buy-in of the public, Trump risks plunging a hemisphere into chaos and has broken his promise to end wars instead of starting them,\u2019 Schiff said in a statement.
\u2212Francesca Chambers and Bart Jansen<\/em>
The U.S. capture of Maduro<\/a> comes just weeks after President Trump gave a full pardon to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Herna\u0301ndez<\/a>, who was convicted and serving a 45-year sentence in federal prison for cocaine distribution. \u00a0
Trump announced he planned to pardon<\/a> Herna\u0301ndez on Nov. 28, 2025, and White House officials confirmed the pardon by Dec. 2. \u00a0
Herna\u0301ndez was convicted in March 2024 of conspiring with drug kingpins to bring more than 400 tons of cocaine into the United States in what then-Attorney General Merrick\u00a0Garland\u00a0called \u201cone of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world.\u201d\u00a0
In a social media post, Trump said the former Honduran president had been \u201ctreated very harshly and unfairly.\u201d
\u2212<\/em>Jeanine Santucci<\/em>
Russia’s foreign ministry said the U.S. strikes on Venezueala were “deeply concerning and condemnable.”
“The pretexts used to justify such actions are unfounded,” the ministry said in a statement. “Ideological animosity has prevailed over business pragmatism and the willingness to build relationships based on trust and predictability.”
“In the current situation, it is important, first and foremost, to prevent further escalation and to focus on finding a way out of the situation through dialogue.”
Russia has been an ally of Venezuela’s even as the U.S. turned against its socialist government. Maduro and Russian President Vladimir Putin last met in Moscow in May.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva said the “bombings on Venezuelan territory and the capture of its president cross an unacceptable line,” one of many condemnations from Latin American leaders, while Argentinian President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, posted in all caps: “FREEDOM MOVES FORWARD. LONG LIVE FREEDOM DAMMIT.”
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, will face trial on U.S. soil on charges of “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States,” Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/a> said in a post<\/a> to X.
“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” Bondi wrote.
Bondi’s post appeared to reference charges<\/a> Maduro and his top officials have already faced since 2020, when they were indicted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Flores was not charged in those indictments.
\u2212<\/em>Cybele Mayes-Osterman<\/em>
Exactly 36 years before the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicola\u0301s Maduro in an early morning military operation in Venezuela, U.S. forces seized Panamanian General Manuel Noriega on Jan. 3, 1990.
The arrest of Noriega shares more similarities with the Trump administration’s alleged capture of Maduro than just a date on the calendar. Noriega was first a CIA asset before he rose to power as Panama’s military strongman leader. The U.S. indicted him on drug trafficking charges, and in late 1989, then-President George H.W. Bush dispatched tens of thousands of troops to Panama to capture Noriega and bring him to face trial in the U.S.
The Trump administration’s effort to oust Maduro also centered on his alleged ties to drug trafficking, for which he was charged by a U.S. court in 2020. Experts have said that, while Maduro’s regime profits from drug trafficking, he does not lead a vast drug smuggling network like the role Noriega played.
\u2212<\/em>Cybele Mayes-Osterman<\/em>
Venezuelan security forces patrolled largely empty streets at dawn in the capital, Caracas, hours after loud explosions woke residents to the news that U.S. commandos had bombed the country and captured President Maduro.
Streets close to the Miraflores presidential palace were deserted except for checkpoints manned by uniformed gunmen, as residents were left guessing who was now in charge of the oil-rich nation.
Smoke streaked the sky, with a dark plume still billowing from the direction of the Port of La Guaira to the north, while another was visible near an air base in the capital.
For supporters of the opposition, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, excitement was also in the air.
“My sister, who is in the United States, woke me up with the news; she was crying. We cried together out of happiness,” said Jairo Chacin, 39, a mechanic and workshop owner in oil hub Maracaibo, as he waited in a long line to stock up on groceries.
\u2212<\/em>Reuters<\/em>
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton said Saturday morning that he\u2019d spoken to Marco Rubio and the Trump official confirmed that Venezuelan President Nicola\u0301s Maduro is in U.S. custody and will face criminal charges.
\u201cNicolas Maduro wasn\u2019t just an illegitimate dictator; he also ran a vast drug-trafficking operation. That\u2019s why he was indicted in U.S. court nearly six years ago for drug trafficking and narco-terrorism,\u201d Cotton said in a post on X.<\/a>
The Arkansas Republican said, \u201cThe interim government in Venezuela must now decide whether to continue the drug trafficking and colluding with adversaries like Iran and Cuba or whether to act like a normal nation and return to the civilized world. I urge them to choose wisely.\u201d
It was not immediately clear if the Trump administration notified Cotton, one of the top congressional leaders on intelligence matters, before the strike took place.\u00a0
\u2013Francesca Chambers<\/em>
Venezuela called for an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting after President Trump announced the U.S. had captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an early morning military operation on Jan. 3.
In a letter dated that day, Venezuela’s representative to the U.N. denounced the U.S. “armed aggression” and its “grave implications” for peace and security. The letter was addressed to Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia’s U.N. ambassador, who took over the rotating presidency of the Security Council on Jan. 1, and was posted<\/a> to X by Yvan Gil, Venezuela’s foreign minister.
U.S. military forces had carried out “brutal, unjustified and unilateral” attacks in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, and other cities in the country, the letter said.
The statement called on governments of Latin America to mobilize in solidarity with Venezuela in response to what the letter called an attack on regional independence.
\u2212<\/em>Cybele Mayes-Osterman<\/em>
Republican Sen. Mike Lee said in a post<\/a> on X that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told him Venezuelan President Nicola\u0301s Maduro will “stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.”
“Just got off the phone” with Rubio, Lee wrote on Jan. 3.
“He informed me that Nicola\u0301s 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.”
In a second post, Lee said Rubio “anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody.”
\u2212<\/em>Cybele Mayes-Osterman<\/em>
Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela’s vice president, said the Venezuelan government does not know the whereabouts of President Nicola\u0301s Maduro or his wife, Cilia Flores, after President Trump announced that the U.S. had captured Maduro and flown him out of the country.
“We demand immediate proof of life of President Nicola\u0301s Maduro and the first lady Cilia Flores,” Rodriguez said on Venezuelan state TV.
“Proof of life” is a term associated with kidnappings, in which captors provide confirmation that the victim they are ransoming is still alive.
\u2212Cybele Mayes-Osterman<\/em>
Members of the Army’s secretive Delta Force led the raid to capture Maduro and his wife, according to CBS News.
Delta Force, considered the Army’s equivalent to the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, is trained in counterterrorism and raids against important targets. The unit carried out the 2019 raid that killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of ISIS.
Videos from Caracas circulating on social media showed several helicopters flying over the city and firing at targets. The Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment routinely supports Delta Force and other U.S. special operations forces on high-stakes missions.
\u2013Davis Winkie<\/em>
David Smolansky, a spokesperson for Maria Corina Machado<\/a>, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, told USA TODAY that strikes carried out by the U.S. targeted several critical infrastructure and military facilities.\u00a0
Those include\u00a0 Fuerte Tiuna, the main military base in Caracas, La Carlota, a military airbase, a site for signal antennae and communications infrastructure on a peak overlooking Caracas called El Volca\u0301n, and a port on the Caribbean coast called La Guaira.
\u2212<\/em>Cybele Mayes-Osteman<\/em>
President Trump has had his sights set on toppling Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s strongman leader, since his first term in the White House.
In 2019, the Trump administration threw its weight behind Juan Guaido, an opposition politician who attempted to unseat Maduro in a failed coup. Maduro and some high-level Venezuelan officials were indicted the next year in a U.S. court on drug trafficking<\/a> and corruption charges.
A former bus driver, Maduro rose through the ranks of Hugo Chavez’ socialist party and took over as his handpicked successor after an election held after Chavez’ death in 2013.
Maduro has been widely accused by election monitoring organizations and the Venezuelan opposition of rigging the next two elections to stay in power.
\u2212<\/em>Cybele Mayes-Osterman<\/em>
The State Department acknowledged “reports of explosions in and around Caracas, Venezuela,” in a post to the U.S. Embassy Venezuela website<\/a>.
“U.S. citizens in Venezuela should shelter in place and depart immediately when it is safe to do so,” said the post by the U.S. Embassy Colombia. (The American embassy in Caracas closed in 2019.)
The alert reiterated earlier travel guidance from Dec. 3 warning “all U.S. citizens in Venezuela … to depart immediately.”
\u2013Davis Winkie<\/em>
Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lo\u0301pez, Venezuela’s defense minister, called the U.S. operation “the most criminal military aggression” in a statement shared by state media outlet teleSUR TV<\/a>.
Padrino Lo\u0301pez, who has held his position for more than a decade, is under U.S. sanctions and was indicted<\/a> on U.S. drug trafficking charges in 2019.
\u2013Davis Winkie<\/em>
The overnight explosions follow a series of attacks by the U.S. military on alleged drug-trafficking vessels<\/a> in the Caribbean and Pacific that began in early September. The campaign escalated to include the seizure of oil tankers<\/a> coming and going from Venezuelan ports in late December.
A sizeable American flotilla has amassed in the southern Caribbean Sea, including multiple guided missile destroyers, a missile cruiser, and a Marine Corps amphibious ready group aboard Navy landing ships. The U.S. publicly moved the USS Gerald R. Ford \u2013 the world’s largest aircraft carrier \u2013 into the region in recent months as well.
Just days before the apparent attack, President Donald Trump confirmed that the CIA conducted a land strike<\/a> against a dock facility in the country.
The administration\u00a0has attacked at least 35 boats\u00a0traversing international waters, killing at least 115 people \u2212 many of them Venezuelans. Trump and other officials have defended the boat strikes as an attempt to stop illegal narcotics, specifically fentanyl, from flooding into the country.
“The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people \u2014 including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans \u2014 to flood our communities with drugs and violence,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a Nov. 29 post on X, when he lashed out at a report<\/a> that he ordered U.S. military officials to leave no survivors during one of the Caribbean sea strikes.
Lawmakers from both parties have criticized the Trump administration’s military attacks for providing no intelligence briefings or other evidence about what the vessels are carrying. Some members of Congress, former military officials and legal analysts have said the strikes are illegal and amount to extrajudicial killings that violate international human rights law<\/a>.
Some of those lawmakers also criticized Saturday’s strikes and the administration’s silence in their immediate wake.
“We have no vital national interests in Venezuela to justify war,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, on X<\/a>. “We should have learned not to stumble into another stupid adventure by now. And he\u2019s not even bothering to tell the American public what the hell is going on.”
Trump has described Maduro, who has been in power since 2013 after the death of populist Hugo Cha\u0301vez, as running Venezuela like a “narco-terrorist” drug cartel<\/a> that is directly responsible for American deaths.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice banning commercial aircraft from operating in Venezuelan airspace around 1 a.m. ET on Jan. 3.
Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard and Philip Bailey, USA TODAY; Reuters<\/em><\/p>\n

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This page reflects the news from Venezuelan leader Nicola\u0301s Maduro‘s capture on Saturday, Jan. 3. For the\u00a0latest updates read USA TODAY’s live coverage for\u00a0Sunday, Jan. 4.\u00a0Venezuelan leader Nicola\u0301s Maduro and his wife arrived in New York on Saturday evening to face several criminal charges after the United States conducted a large-scale operation in Caracas that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}