Trump says US will run Venezuela until transition after capture of President Maduro

FLORIDA – 3 January 2026: President Donald Trump said that the United States is “going to run” Venezuela through a transition, following a US military operation that led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro early on Saturday.

In the early hours of Saturday, the United States carried out an abrupt military operation across the Latin American country, including airstrikes in the capital, Caracas, and the capture of Maduro and his wife, who were flown out of the country.

“We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transitions,” Trump said as he spoke from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Trump appeared alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as he outlined the scope of the military action and the administration’s plans for Venezuela’s future.

He argued that immediate handover to a new local leadership risked repeating the instability that has defined Venezuela for years.

“We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in and the same situation that we had for the last long period of years,” Trump said.

“We’re there now,” Trump said, adding that US involvement will continue “essentially until such time as a proper transition can take place.”

Trump called the operation “spectacular,” saying it involved US military force across air, land and sea.

“It was an assault like people have not seen since World War II.”

He asserted that Venezuelan forces were “completely overwhelmed and very quickly incapacitated.”

He said no US service members were killed and no American military equipment was lost during the operation.

Trump also posted an image on his Truth Social platform that appeared to show Maduro in US custody, blindfolded, wearing headphones and dressed in a grey tracksuit.

Trump said Maduro and his wife will face criminal proceedings and that prosecutors will present what he described as “overwhelming evidence of their crimes.”

The US president warned that Washington is prepared to escalate further if required, saying a second and significantly larger military action can be launched if circumstances demand it.

Looking ahead, Trump asserted that US companies will bring billions of dollars into Venezuela and “start making money for the country.”