President Trump on U.S. Airstrikes Against Venezuela

[0:00] forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of venezuela overwhelming [0:10] american military power air land and sea was used to launch a spectacular assault and it was a [0:19] assault like people have not seen since world war ii it was a force against a heavily fortified [0:28] military fortress in the heart of caracas to bring outlaw dictator nicolas maduro to justice [0:37] this was one of the most stunning effective and powerful displays of american military might and [0:45] competence in american history and if you think about it we've done some other good ones like the [0:55] attack on soleimani the attack on al-bagdadi and the obliteration and decimation of the iran nuclear [1:09] sites just recently in an operation known as midnight hammer all perfectly executed and done [1:21] no nation in the world could achieve what america achieved yesterday or frankly in just a short [1:29] period of time all venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless as the men and women of [1:38] our military working with u.s law enforcement successfully captured maduro in the dead of night [1:45] it was dark the lights of caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have [1:58] it was dark and it was deadly but captured along with his wife celia flores both of whom now face american [2:13] justice maduro and flores have been indicted in the southern district of new york jay clayton for their [2:23] campaign of deadly narco-terrorism against the united states and its citizens i want to thank the men and [2:31] women of our military who achieved such an extraordinary success overnight with breathtaking [2:37] speed power precision and competence you rarely see anything like it you've seen some raids in [2:43] this country that didn't go so well they were an embarrassment if you look back to afghanistan or if [2:50] you look back to the jimmy carter days they were different days we're a respected country again like [2:58] maybe like never before these highly trained warriors operating in collaboration with u.s law [3:05] enforcement caught them in a very ready position they were waiting for us they knew we had many [3:12] ships out in the sea just sort of waiting they knew we were coming so they were in a ready what's [3:20] called a ready position but they were completely overwhelmed and very quickly incapacitated [3:30] if you would have seen what i saw last night you would have been very impressed i'm not sure that [3:34] you'll ever get to see it but it was an incredible thing to see not a single american service member [3:40] was killed and not a single piece of american equipment was lost we had many helicopters many planes many [3:49] many people involved in that fight but think of that not one piece of military equipment was lost not one [3:57] service member was more importantly killed the united states military is the strongest [4:04] and most fearsome military on the planet by far with capabilities and skills our enemies can [4:11] scarcely begin to imagine we have the best equipment anywhere in the world there's no equipment like [4:17] what we have and you see that even if you just look at the boats you know we've knocked out 97 percent [4:23] of the drugs coming in by sea 90 each boat kills 25 on average 25 000 people we knocked out 97 and those [4:36] drugs mostly come from a place called venezuela we're going to run the country until such time [4:44] as we can do a safe proper and judicious transition so we don't want to be involved with having somebody [4:53] else get in and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years so we are [4:59] going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe proper and judicious transition and it has [5:08] to be judicious because that's what we're all about we want peace liberty and justice for the great [5:16] people of venezuela and that includes many from venezuela that are now living in the united states [5:24] and want to go back to their country it's their homeland we can't take a chance that somebody else [5:31] takes over venezuela that doesn't have the good of the venezuelan people in mind we've had decades of [5:39] that we're not going to let that happen we're there now and what people don't understand but they [5:48] understand as as i say this we're there now but we're going to stay until such time as the proper [5:57] transition can take place so we're going to stay until such time as we're going to run it essentially [6:03] until such time as a proper transition can take place as everyone knows the oil business in venezuela [6:10] has been a bust a total bust for a long period of time they were pumping almost nothing by comparison [6:18] to what they could have been pumping and what could have taken place we're going to have our very large [6:28] united states oil companies the biggest anywhere in the world go in spend billions of dollars [6:36] fix the badly broken infrastructure the oil infrastructure and start making money for the [6:42] country and we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so so we were [6:53] prepared to do a second wave if we needed to do so we actually assumed that a second wave would [7:03] be necessary but now it's probably not the first wave if you'd like to call it that the first attack [7:09] was so successful we probably don't have to do a second but we're prepared to do a second wave [7:15] a much bigger wave actually this was pinpoint but we have a much bigger wave that probably won't have [7:23] to do this partnership of venezuela with the united states of america a country that everybody wants [7:29] to be involved with because of what we were able to do and accomplish will make the people of venezuela [7:37] rich independent and safe and it will also make the many many people from venezuela that are living in [7:46] the united states extremely happy they suffered they suffered so much was taken from them they're not [7:52] going to suffer anymore the illegitimate dictator maduro was the kingpin of a vast criminal network [7:59] responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the united states [8:07] as alleged in the indictment he personally oversaw the vicious cartel known as cartel de las solas [8:17] which flooded our nation with lethal poison responsible for the deaths of countless americans [8:23] the many many americans hundreds of thousands over the years of americans died because of him maduro and [8:30] his wife will soon face the full might of american justice and stand trial on american soil right now [8:39] they're on a ship they'll be heading to ultimately new york and then a decision will be made i assume [8:46] between new york and miami or florida but we have uh people where the overwhelming evidence of their [8:57] crimes will be presented in a court of law and i've seen it i've seen what we have it's uh it's both [9:08] horrible and breathtaking that something like this could have been allowed to take place for many years [9:13] after his term as president of venezuela expired maduro remained in power and waged a ceaseless campaign of [9:23] violence terror and subversion against the united states of america threatening not only our people [9:30] but the stability of the entire region and you all saw it in addition to trafficking gigantic amounts of [9:36] illegal drugs that inflicted untold suffering and human destruction all over the country all over in [9:45] particular the united states maduro sent savage and murderous gangs including the bloodthirsty prison gang [9:52] trend de aragua to terrorize american communities nationwide and he did indeed they were in [9:58] colorado they took over apartment complexes they cut the fingers off people if they call police [10:05] they were brutal but they're not so brutal now and i just have to congratulate our military pete and [10:14] everybody and our national guard because the job that they've done whether it's in washington dc where [10:20] we have a totally safe city where it was one of the most unsafe cities anywhere in the world frankly [10:27] and now we have no crime in washington dc we haven't had a killing we had the terrorist attack a few weeks [10:36] ago a little bit of a different kind of a threat but we haven't had a killing in a long period of time [10:45] six seven months we used to have two on average two a week in washington our capital we don't have that [10:52] anymore the restaurants are opening everyone's happy they're going they're walking their daughters [10:57] they're walking their children their wives they walk to restaurants restaurants are opening all over [11:04] washington dc so i want to thank the national guard i want to thank our military and i want to thank law [11:09] enforcement been amazing and they should do it with more cities we're doing it as you know and [11:16] we're doing it in memphis tennessee right now and crime is down we've just sort of started a few weeks [11:22] ago but crime is down now 77 percent and uh the governor of louisiana called great person and he [11:32] wanted us to help him as you know and a certain very nice part of louisiana and we have done that [11:41] and it's a rough it was a rough rough section and we have climbed down i i understand it's down to almost [11:47] nothing already after two and a half weeks new orleans it's down to almost nothing and we've [11:54] only been there for two and a half weeks can't imagine why governors wouldn't want us to help [11:59] we also helped as you know in chicago then crime went down a little bit there we did a very small [12:05] help because we had no no uh we had no working ability with the governor the governor was a disaster [12:12] and the mayor was a disaster but it knocked down crime but we're pulling out of there when when they [12:17] need us we'll know you'll know you'll be writing about it and likewise los angeles where we saved [12:24] los angeles early on where the head of the police department made a statement that if the federal [12:31] government didn't come in we would have lost los angeles that's after long after the fires that's [12:37] when they had the riots in los angeles we did a great job got no credit for it whatsoever but that's [12:41] okay it doesn't matter we don't need the credit but we'll be pulling out when they need us they'll call [12:46] or we'll go back if we have to we'll go back but we did a great job in various cities but the thing [12:53] the place that we're very proud of is washington dc because it's our nation's capital we took it from [12:58] being a crime-ridden mess to being one of the safest cities in the country but the gangs that they sent [13:07] raped tortured and murdered american women and children they were in all of the cities i mentioned [13:13] trend aragua and they were sent by maduro to terrorize our people and now maduro will never [13:22] again be able to threaten an american citizen or anybody from venezuela there will no longer be [13:29] threats for years i've highlighted the stories of those innocent american whose lives were so heartlessly [13:37] robbed by this venezuelan terrorist organization really one of the worst one of the worst they say the [13:43] worst americans like 12 year old jocelyn nun gary from houston beautiful jocelyn nun gary what happened [13:51] to her they uh as you know they kidnapped assaulted and murdered by trend aragua animals they murdered [14:03] jocelyn and left her dead under the bridge there was a bridge a bridge that will never be the same to [14:13] so many people after seeing what happened as i've said many times the maduro regime emptied out their [14:19] prisons sent their worst and most violent monsters into the united states to steal american lives and [14:28] they came from mental institutions and insane asylums they came from prisons and jails the reason i say [14:35] both they sound similar actually prisons a little bit more a little bit more hostile a little bit tougher [14:43] a mental institution isn't as tough as an insane asylum but we got them both they sent from their [14:50] mental institutions they sent from their jails prisons they were drug dealers they were drug kingpins [14:56] they sent everybody bad into the united states but no longer and we have now a border where nobody gets [15:03] through in addition venezuela unilaterally seized and stole american oil american assets and american [15:12] platforms costing us billions and billions of dollars they did this a while ago but we never had a [15:20] president that did anything about it they took all of our property it was our property we built it and [15:28] we never had a president that decided to do anything about it instead they fought wars that were 10 000 [15:35] miles away we built venezuela oil industry with american talent drive and skill and the socialist regime [15:45] stole it from us during those previous administrations and they stole it through force this constituted one [15:53] of the largest thefts of american property in the history of our country considered the largest theft of [15:58] property in the history of our country massive oil infrastructure was taken like we were babies so we [16:04] didn't do anything about it i would have done something about it america will never allow foreign [16:10] powers to rob our people or drive us back into and out of our own hemisphere that's what they did [16:20] furthermore under the now deposed dictator maduro venezuela was increasingly hosting foreign adversaries [16:26] in our region and acquiring menacing offensive weapons that could threaten u.s interests and lives and [16:32] they use those weapons last night they use those weapons last night potentially in league with the cartels [16:39] operating along our border all of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of [16:45] american foreign policy dating back more than two centuries and uh not anymore all the way back it dated to the [16:56] monroe doctrines and the monroe doctrine is a a big deal but we've superseded it by a lot by a real lot [17:07] they now call it the don road document i don't know it's uh monroe doctrine we sort of forgot about it [17:16] it was very important but we forgot about it we don't forget about it anymore under our new national [17:21] security strategy american dominance in the western hemisphere will never be questioned again won't happen [17:30] so just in concluding for decades other administrations have neglected or even [17:35] contributed to these growing security threats in the western hemisphere under the trump administration [17:43] we are reasserting american power in a very powerful way in our home region and our home [17:50] region is very different than it was just a short while ago the future will be and we did this in my [17:56] first term we had great dominance in my first term and we have far greater dominance right now [18:03] everyone's coming back to us the future will be determined by the ability to [18:09] protect commerce and territory and resources that are core to national security these are core to nasa [18:16] our national security just like tariffs are they've made our country rich and they've made our national [18:25] security strong stronger than ever before but these are the iron laws that have always determined [18:32] global power and we're going to keep it that way we will secure our borders we'll stop the terrorists we [18:40] will crash the cartels and we will defend our citizens against all threats foreign and domestic [18:48] other presidents may have lacked the courage or whatever to defend america but i will never allow [18:55] terrorists and criminals to operate with impunity against the united states this extremely successful [19:02] operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten american sovereignty or endanger american [19:08] lives very importantly the embargo on all venezuelan oil remains in full effect the american armada [19:17] remains poised in position and the united states retains all military options until united states demands [19:25] have been fully met have been fully met and fully satisfied all political and military figures in [19:31] venezuela should understand what happened to maduro can happen to them and it will happen to them [19:38] if they aren't just fair even to their people the dictator and terrorist maduro is finally gone in [19:48] venezuela people are free they're free again it's been a long time for them but they're free [19:55] america is a safer nation this morning it's a prouder nation this morning because it didn't allow [20:03] this horrible person and this country that was doing very bad things to us it didn't allow it to happen [20:12] and the western hemisphere is right now a much safer place to be so i want to thank everybody for being here [20:18] uh i want to thank general raisin kane he's a fantastic man i've worked with a lot of generals [20:25] i worked with some i didn't like i worked with some i didn't respect i worked with some they just weren't [20:30] good but this guy is fantastic i watched last night one of the most precise uh attacks on sovereignty i [20:39] mean it was uh an attack for justice and i'm very proud of him and i'm very proud of our secretary of [20:45] war pete hexath who i'm going to ask to say a few words thank you very much can you explain how the [20:54] u.s will run venezuela well thank you mr president um finally a commander-in-chief the world respects [21:01] and the american people deserve and as the president said words can barely capture the bravery and the [21:07] power and the precision of this historic operation a massive joint military and law enforcement raid [21:12] flawlessly executed by the greatest americans our country has to offer american warriors are second [21:20] to none the best in the world and the best of our country what i what all of us witnessed last night [21:27] was sheer guts and grit gallantry and glory of the american warrior i'm simply humbled by such men such [21:38] men and i tip my hat to our chairman dan raisin kane and all those americans who stood watch last night [21:44] our warriors are the elite of america and again president trump has your back no other country on [21:52] planet earth and it's not even close could pull this kind of operation off and no other president has ever [21:59] shown this kind of leadership courage and resolve the most powerful combination the world has ever seen [22:08] as the president said our adversaries remain on notice america can project our will anywhere [22:15] anytime the coordination the stealth the lethality the precision the very long arm of american justice [22:22] all on full display in the middle of the night nicholas maduro had his chance just like iran had their [22:31] chance until they didn't and until he didn't he effed around and he found out president trump is deadly [22:40] serious about stopping the flow of gangs and violence to our country deadly serious about [22:46] stopping the flow of drugs and poison to our people deadly serious about getting back the oil that [22:53] was stolen from us and deadly serious about re-establishing american deterrence and dominance in [22:59] the western hemisphere this is about the safety security freedom and prosperity of the american people this [23:08] is america first this is peace through strength and the united states war department is proud to help [23:18] deliver it welcome to 2026 and under president trump america is back i'd like to welcome now our chairman [23:28] chairman raisin kane to give a few more details about the operation mr chairman thank you uh thank you mr [23:36] secretary thank you uh mr president and good morning last night on the order of the president of the united [23:43] states and in support of a request from the department of justice as the president said the united states [23:48] military conducted an apprehension mission in caracas venezuela to bring to justice two indicted persons [23:56] nicholas and cecila maduro this operation known as operation absolute resolve was discreet precise and [24:04] conducted during the darkest hours of january 2nd and was in the culmination of months of planning and [24:10] rehearsal an operation that frankly only the united states military could undertake what i'd like to [24:17] do this morning is talk to you through some of the preparation and the details without compromising [24:23] any of our tactics techniques and procedures there is always a chance that we'll be tasked to do this [24:30] type of mission again our interagency work began months ago and built on decades of experience of [24:37] integrating complex air ground space and maritime operations while the past two decades have honed [24:44] the skills of our special operations forces this particular mission required every component of our [24:51] joint force with soldiers sailors airmen marines and guardians working in unison with our intelligence [24:59] agency partners and law enforcement teammates in an unprecedented operation we leveraged our unmatched [25:06] intelligence capabilities and our years of experience in hunting terrorists and we could not have done [25:13] this mission without the incredible work by various intelligence agencies including the cia nsa and nga [25:21] we watched we waited we prepared we remained patient and professional this mission was meticulously planned [25:32] drawing lessons from decades of missions over the last many years decades or many missions over these [25:38] last many years this was an audacious operation that only the united states could do it required the [25:46] utmost of precision and integration within our joint force and the word integration does not explain the sheer [25:55] complexity of the complexity of such a mission an extraction so precise it involved more than 150 aircraft [26:04] launching across the western hemisphere in close coordination all coming together in time and place [26:12] to layer effects for a single purpose to get an interdiction force into downtown caracas while maintaining the element [26:22] of tactical surprise failure of one component of this well-oiled machine would have endangered the entire [26:30] mission and failure is never an option for america's joint force those in the air over caracas last night [26:39] were willing to give their lives for those on the ground and in the helicopters let me talk a little bit [26:45] about the preparation after months of work by our intelligence teammates to find maduro and understand [26:53] how he moved where he lived where he traveled what he ate what he wore what were his pets in early [27:01] december our force was set pending a series of aligned events key was choosing the right day to minimize the [27:11] potential for civilian harm and maximize the element of surprise and minimize the harm to the indicted personnel [27:19] so as the president said they could be brought to justice and as the president said earlier today [27:26] weather in venezuela is always a factor this time of the year and over the weeks through christmas and [27:33] new years the men and women of the united states military sat ready patiently waiting for the right [27:40] triggers to be met and the president to order us into action last night the weather broke just enough [27:47] clearing a path that only the most skilled aviators in the world could maneuver through ocean mountain low [27:56] clouds ceilings but when tasked with a mission this organization does not quit at 10 46 p.m eastern [28:06] time last night the president ordered the united states military to move forward with this mission [28:12] he said to us and we appreciated mr president good luck and godspeed and those words were transmitted to [28:18] the entire joint force over the course of the night aircraft began launching from 20 different bases [28:25] on land and sea across the western hemisphere in total more than 150 aircraft bombers fighters [28:33] intelligence reconnaissance surveillance rotary wing were in the air last night [28:38] thousands and thousands of hours of experience were airborne our youngest crew member was 20 [28:45] and our oldest crew member was 49 and there's simply no match for american military might as the night [28:52] began the helicopters took off with the extraction force which included law enforcement officers [28:58] and began their flight into venezuela at 100 feet above the water as they approach venezuelan shores [29:05] the united states began layering different effects provided by spacecom cybercom and other members of the [29:11] interagency to create a pathway overhead those forces were protected from aircraft were protected by [29:18] aircraft from the united states marines the united states navy the united states air force and the air [29:24] national guard the force included f-22s f-35s f-18s ea-18s e-2s b-1 bombers and other support aircraft as well [29:36] as numerous remotely piloted drones as the force began to approach caracas the joint air component began [29:44] dismantling and disabling the air defense systems in venezuela employing weapons to ensure the safe passage of [29:53] the helicopters of the helicopters into the target area the goal of our air component is was and always [30:01] will be to protect the helicopters and the ground force and get them to the target and get them home [30:09] as the force crossed the last point of high terrain where they'd been hiding in the clutter we assessed [30:16] that we had maintained totally the element of surprise as the helicopter force ingressed towards [30:23] the objective at low level we arrived at maduro's compound at 101 a.m eastern standard time or 201 a.m caracas [30:33] local time and the apprehension force descended into maduro's compound and moved with speed precision [30:41] and discipline towards their objective and isolated the area to ensure the safety and security of the [30:47] ground force while apprehending the indicted persons on arrival into the target area the helicopters came [30:55] under fire and they replied with that fire with overwhelming force and self-defense one of our [31:01] aircraft was hit but remained flyable and as the president said earlier today all of our aircraft came [31:06] home and that aircraft remained flyable during the rest of the mission as the operation unfolded at the [31:13] compound our air and ground intelligence teams provided real-time updates to the ground force ensuring [31:19] those forces could safely navigate the complex environment without unnecessary risk the force remained [31:26] protected by overhead tactical aviation maduro and his wife both indicted gave up and were taken into [31:34] custody by the department of justice assisted by our incredible u.s military with professionalism [31:41] and precision with with no loss of u.s life after securing the indicted persons the force began to prep for [31:50] departure helicopters were called in to exfiltrate the extraction force while fighter aircraft and [31:56] remotely piloted aircraft provided overhead coverage and suppressive fire there were multiple self-defense [32:04] engagements as the force began to withdraw out of venezuela the force successfully exfiltrated [32:12] and returned to their afloat launch bases and the force was over the water at 3 29 a.m eastern standard time [32:21] with indicted persons on board and both maduro and his wife were embarked aboard the uss uajima [32:30] in closing what we've witnessed today is a powerful demonstration of america's joint force [32:36] we think we develop we train we rehearse we debrief we rehearse again and again not to get it right but to [32:48] ensure that we cannot get it wrong our jobs are to integrate combat power so when the order comes we can [32:58] deliver overwhelming force at the time and the place of our choosing against any foe anywhere in the world [33:08] i am immensely proud today of our joint force and filled with gratitude to represent them here today [33:16] there is simply no mission too difficult for these incredible professionals and the families that stand [33:22] by them and support them as we stand here this morning our forces remain in the region at a high state [33:30] of readiness prepared to project power defend themselves and our interests in the region this operation is a [33:40] testament to the dedication and unwavering commitment to justice and our resolve to hold accountable [33:47] those who threaten peace and stability in closing i want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the brave [33:56] men and women who executed this mission their courage and tireless commitment to our nation [34:02] are what makes us strong thank you mr secretary and thank you mr president well i don't have much to [34:10] add to what you've heard now other than the following points nicolas maduro was indicted in 2020 [34:16] in the united states he is not the legitimate president of venezuela that's not just us saying [34:21] it the first trump administration the biden administration the second trump administration [34:25] none of those three recognize them he's not recognized by the european union in multiple [34:29] countries around the world he is a fugitive of american justice with a 50 million dollar reward [34:34] which i guess we save 50 million dollars and uh make sure yeah exactly but don't let anybody [34:40] claim it nobody deserves it but us but i want to be clear about one thing nicolas maduro had [34:46] multiple opportunities to avoid this he was provided multiple very very very generous offers [34:53] and chose instead to act like a wild man chose instead to play around and the result is what we [34:58] saw tonight uh the other message here is the following you have a guy like many people around [35:03] the world they like to play games you have a guy who decides he's going to invite iran into his [35:07] country is going to you know do the confiscation of american oil companies is going to flood our [35:12] country with gang members is is going to take americans prisoner and try to hold them for hostage [35:17] and trade him like he was able to do with the biden administration basically likes to play games all [35:21] this time and thinks nothing's going to happen and i hope what people now understand is we have a [35:26] president the 47th president united states is not a game player when he tells you that he's going to [35:31] do something when he's good tells you he's going to address a problem he means it he actions it i i can [35:37] tell you i've watched this process now for 14 15 years been around it everybody talks i'm going to [35:41] do this i'm going to do that when i get there we're going to do this we're going to take this [35:44] is a president of action like i don't understand yet how they haven't figured this out and now if [35:49] you don't know now you know because this is the way it's going to play out and i think people need [35:53] to understand that this is not a president that just talks and does letters and press conferences and [35:57] you know if he says he's serious about something he means it and and this is something that was a [36:02] direct threat to the national interest of the united states and the president addressed it [36:06] there's a president of peace by the way i told you what i just said earlier this guy had multiple [36:10] opportunities to find his way somewhere else and figure out another he could have been living [36:14] somewhere else right now very happy but instead he wanted to play big boy and so now you know he's [36:19] got other sets of problems on his hands and uh but i think that the message here should be for the [36:23] world look the president doesn't go out looking for people to pick fights with he's not generally wants [36:28] to get along with everybody we'll talk and meet with anybody but don't play games don't play games [36:34] but this president's in office because it's not going to turn out well and so i hope that uh you [36:39] know um you know i guess uh that lesson was learned last night and uh and we hope it'll be instructive [36:45] moving forward is that the message for cuba mr president mr president mr president you said that the [36:54] u.s is going to run venezuela so who's in power right now well we're going to be running it with a group [36:59] and we're going to make sure it's run properly we're going to rebuild the oil infrastructure which will [37:04] cost billions of dollars it'll be paid for by the oil companies directly uh they will [37:11] be reimbursed for what they're doing but that's going to be paid and we're going to get the oil [37:16] flowing the way it should be as you know it was just a minor flow it was actually a minor flow for [37:20] what they have but we're going to run it properly and we're going to make sure the people of venezuela [37:24] are taken care of we're going to make sure the people that were forced out of venezuela by [37:29] this thug are also taken care of mr president does the u.s running the country mean that u.s [37:38] troops will be on the ground how will that work well you know they always say boots on the ground [37:42] oh so we're not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to have we had boots on the ground last night [37:48] at a very high level actually we're not afraid of it we don't mind saying it but we're going to make [37:54] sure that that country is run properly we're not doing this in vain this is not this is a very dangerous [37:59] attack this is an attack that could have gone very very badly could have gone very badly we could [38:04] have lost a lot of people last night we could have lost a lot of uh dignity we could have lost a [38:09] lot of equipment the equipment is less important but uh we could have lost a lot and we're going to [38:15] make sure that this is proper we're there now we're ready to go again if we have to we're going to [38:21] run the country right it's going to be run very uh judiciously very fairly it's going to make a lot of [38:28] money we're going to give money to the people we're going to reimburse people that we're taking [38:34] advantage of we're going to take care of everybody it's very important we couldn't let them get away [38:39] with it you know they stole our oil we we built that whole industry there and they just took it over [38:46] like we were nothing and we had a president that decided not to do anything about it so uh we did [38:52] something about it we're late but we did something about it yeah please [38:55] what are you explaining the exact mechanism by which you're going to run the country [38:59] are you going to designate it yes it's all being it's all being done right now we're designating [39:04] people we're talking to people we're designating uh various people and we're going to let you know [39:09] who those people are that would run venezuela well it's largely going to be for a period of time [39:16] the people that are standing right behind me we're going to be running it we're going to be bringing [39:21] it back it's a it's a dead you know i talk about a dead country a year and a half ago we were a dead [39:26] country now we're the hottest country anywhere in the world we're a country doing better than any [39:31] country anywhere in the world and it required leadership venezuela has a lot of bad people in [39:38] there a lot of bad people that shouldn't be leading we're not going to take a chance at one of those [39:42] people take over for maduro so uh you can look at and and others we have fantastic people including [39:50] people in the military so we're going to have a group of people running it until such time as it can be [39:55] put back on track make a lot of money for the people and give people a great way of life and [40:00] also reimbursement for people in our country that were forced out of venezuela you said earlier today [40:09] that you weren't going to back machado to come back and be the opposition later in your fox and [40:13] friends interview and then you also mentioned the vice president of venezuela are you going to work with [40:17] vice president of venezuela or how do you foresee the relationship you know i understand she was just [40:21] sworn in but she was as you know picked by maduro so marco's working on that directly he's just had [40:28] a conversation with her and she's essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to [40:35] make venezuela great again very simple mr president uh so uh colombian president gustavo petro uh you [40:42] know a couple weeks ago you said he's got to watch his ass um and today he said he's not concerned [40:46] about anything happening to him in the aftermath of this operation so uh just what your message is [40:50] well he has cocaine mills he has uh factories where he makes cocaine and yeah i think i stick [40:56] by my first statement he's making cocaine they're sending it into the united states so he does have [41:02] to watch his ass did you notify any members of congress in advance marco do you want to talk [41:09] about that because you were involved we call members of congress immediately after this was not the kind [41:13] of mission that you can do congressional notification on it was a trigger-based mission in which conditions [41:18] had to be met night after night we watched and monitored that for a number of days so it's just [41:23] simply not the kind of mission you can call people and say hey we may do this at some point [41:26] in the next 15 days but it's largely a law enforcement function remember at the end of day [41:30] at its core this was an arrest of two indicted fugitives of american justice and the department [41:36] of war supported the department of justice in that job now there are broader policy implications [41:40] here but it's just not the kind of mission that you can pre-notify because it endangers the mission [41:45] plus if i could add one thing to that congress has a tendency to leak this would not be good [41:54] if they leaked general i think it would have been maybe a very different result [41:58] but i i have to say they knew we were coming at some point you know a lot of ships out there they [42:03] sort of knew we were coming we weren't but but congress congress will leak and we don't want leakers [42:11] you were one of the only people to watch this all play out live what was maduro doing [42:16] when the u.s forces entered what i assume would be his home and also was there any point where [42:20] the u.s was considering if maduro pushed back or resisted killing maduro it could have happened [42:26] it could have happened he was trying to get into a safe place you know the safe place is all steel [42:32] and he wasn't able to make it to the door because our guys were so fast they went through [42:37] the opposition so fast and there was a lot of opposition you know people were wondering do we get [42:42] him by surprise sort of surprised but they were waiting for something it was a lot of opposition [42:47] there was a lot of gunfire you saw some of it today uh but he was trying to get to a safe place [42:54] which wasn't safe because we would have had the door blown up in about 47 i think 47 seconds they say [43:00] on average regardless of how thick the seal was it it was a very thick door it was a very heavy door [43:06] but he was unable to get to that door he made it to the door he was unable to close it [43:15] where is maduro going to be in the time being right now do you know his exact well eventually [43:19] ultimately in the near future he's going to be brought to new york and where is he going to be [43:23] where is he going to be held in new york that's going to be up to the officials that do these things [43:27] mr president mr president the u.s has something of a mixed track record of ousting dictators [43:33] without necessarily a plan for what comes afterwards did that weigh on your decision [43:37] well that's why we had different presidents but with me that's not true with me we've had a perfect [43:42] track record of uh winning we win a lot and we win if you look at soleimani you look at al baghdadi [43:49] you look at the midnight hammer midnight hammer was incredible right now you you wouldn't have peace in [43:55] the middle east we have essentially peace in the middle east because of that if you didn't if we [44:00] weren't successful with midnight hammer you wouldn't have peace in the middle east so uh with me you've [44:06] had a lot of a lot of victory you've had only victories you've had no losses yeah can you uh [44:12] how long do you expect the u.s to run venezuela and how soon do you want the venezuelan people [44:17] to hold a life so i'd like to do it quickly but it takes a period of time you know we're rebuilding [44:22] we have to rebuild their whole infrastructure the infrastructure is rotted it's actually very [44:27] dangerous it's a you know blow up territory oil is very dangerous it's a very dangerous thing to [44:32] take out of the ground uh it can kill a lot of people it has killed a lot of people doing just [44:37] that the infrastructure is old it's rotted much of it is stuff that we put there 25 years ago [44:44] and we're going to be replacing it and we're going to take a lot of money out so that we can take care [44:50] of the country yes are you saying that secretary rubio and mr president china russia [44:57] and iran have interests in venezuela how does this operation affect your relationships with [45:01] them in terms of china and russia uh well russia when we get things straightened out but in terms [45:09] of other countries that want oil we're in the oil business we're going to sell it to them we're not [45:14] going to say we're not going to go in other words we'll be selling oil uh probably in much larger doses [45:20] because they couldn't produce very much because their infrastructure was so bad so we'll be selling [45:24] large amounts of oil to other countries many of whom are using it now but i would say many more [45:30] will come are you saying that mr president are you saying that mr president thank you what is your [45:39] message to the people of venezuela today of course the civilian population specifically they have a lot [45:45] of questions what is your message to the people of venezuela you're going to have peace justice you're [45:49] going to have some of the riches that you should have had for a long period of time it was stolen from [45:55] you but you're going to have peace and you're going to have safety you're going to have justice you're [45:58] going to have a country you're going to have a real country you're going to have potentially a great [46:02] country you know if you go back 20 years maybe even a little longer ago that was a great country [46:07] and they destroyed it remember i said that if we lose this election the united states will be [46:14] venezuela on steroids that's what would have happened had we lost the election the 2024 election we [46:21] suffered so badly when you look at the border from 2020 what what they did what joe biden administration [46:28] did to our country should never be forgotten but if we had to go through another year of that we [46:33] wouldn't have we would be exactly where venezuela was in terms i used to say if they win we're going [46:40] to be venezuela on steroids and that's what would have happened thank you are you saying that secretary [46:46] hegseth and rubio are going to be running venezuela and will you be sending in u.s military [46:50] troops to provide that's working with the people of venezuela to make sure that we have venezuela right [46:56] because for us to just leave who's going to take over i mean there is nobody to take over you have [47:02] a vice president who's been appointed by maduro and right now she's the vice president and she's i guess [47:08] the president she was sworn as president just a little while ago she had a long conversation with [47:13] marco and she said we'll do whatever you need uh she i think she was quite gracious but [47:20] she really doesn't have a choice we're going to have this done right we're not going to just do [47:25] this with maduro then leave like everybody else leave and say you know let it go to hell if we just [47:30] left it has zero chance of ever coming back we'll run it properly we'll run it professionally we'll have [47:36] the greatest oil companies in the world going and invest billions and billions of dollars and take [47:41] out money use that money in venezuela and the biggest beneficiary are going to be the people of [47:47] venezuela and also i can't stress this strongly enough the people that got thrown out of venezuela [47:54] that are now in the united states and frankly some want to stay and some probably want to go back [47:58] yeah to protect americans in the country and were any of the detained americans well right now they're [48:05] very protected because nobody's going to mess with us they're very protected the people of and we let [48:10] them know that uh you better not touch one of them are you concerned that bad elements of the maduro [48:16] regime will remain in place well we know who they are we're on them and uh they're acting much [48:24] differently now than they would have acted two days ago okay wait behind you please mr president why is [48:29] running a country in south america america first well i think it is because we want to surround ourselves [48:35] with good neighbors we want to surround ourselves with stability we want to surround ourselves with [48:41] energy we have tremendous energy in that country it's very important that we protect it we need [48:45] that for ourselves we need that for the world and we want to make sure we can protect it yes sir please [48:51] go ahead is there a message here for cuba and diazcanal well cuba is an interesting case cuba is you know uh [48:58] not doing very well right now it that system has not been a very good one for cuba the people there have [49:03] suffered for many many years and i think cuba is going to be something we'll end up talking about [49:09] because cuba is a failing nation right now very badly failing nation and we want to help the people [49:15] it's very similar in the sense that we want to help the people in cuba but we want to also help the [49:19] people that were forced out of cuba and living in this country do you want to say something about [49:24] that marco please well i mean i just gave you a statement a few minutes ago about uh you know when the [49:30] president speaks you should take him seriously suffice it to say you know cuba is a disaster [49:34] it's it's run by incompetent senile men and and and in some cases not seen out but incompetent [49:41] nonetheless it has no economy it's in total collapse and by the way you know they were you know all of [49:46] the guards that helped protect maduro this is well known their whole spy agency all that were full of [49:51] cubans i mean they basically it's amazing this poor island took over venezuela in some cases one of [49:56] the biggest problems that venezuelans have is they have to declare independence from cuba they tried [50:00] to basically colonize it from a security standpoint so yeah look if i lived in havana and i was in [50:04] the government i'd be concerned at least a little bit the oil flow to cuba from venezuela well the [50:10] president already announced a week ago that anything that's sanctioned it's sanctioned oil it's not [50:15] going to be allowed to get there so that that's that's an existing mr president the answer is the [50:22] answer is yes mr president yes aware of the location of opposition leader machado and have you been in [50:28] contact with her no we haven't really no we have it mr president on on monday i think it would be [50:37] very tough for her to be the leader she doesn't have the support within or the respect within the [50:42] country she's a very nice woman but she doesn't have the respect to be is it possible that the [50:46] u.s ends up administrating venezuela for years you know well you know it won't cost us anything [50:52] because the money coming out of the ground is very substantial so it's not going to cost us anything [50:57] we will well we want safety there we want to be surrounded by countries that aren't housing all [51:04] of our enemies all over the world that's what that was happening and you don't want to have that uh [51:09] but we're going to be rebuilding and and we're we're not spending money uh the oil companies are [51:15] going to go in they're going to spend money they're going to we're going to take back the oil that [51:18] frankly we should have taken back a long time ago a lot of money is coming out of the ground we're [51:23] going to get reimbursed for all of that we're going to get reimbursed for everything that we spend [51:28] so it's going to be uh it's going to be a very important it's going to be a very important this is [51:33] a very big evening that took place last night we have to be surrounded by safe secure countries and [51:41] we also have to have energy very important we have to have energy that's real energy not where [51:46] they're getting four percent and five percent of the energy out of the ground you take a look it was such [51:51] a disaster so what's going to happen with venezuela i think over the next period of a year [51:57] is going to be a great thing and the people of venezuela will be the biggest beneficiaries [52:05] military mr president thank you what did you last speak to maduro about when you spoke and is [52:10] well i don't want to get into the conversations but i did have conversations with him and i said [52:14] uh you gotta surrender and i actually thought he was pretty close to doing so but now he wished he [52:24] did yeah you said that maduro is responsible for drug trafficking you recently pardoned the former [52:31] president of honduras who was convicted of many drug trafficking can you explain how these two [52:36] situations well the yeah i endorsed as you know the winning president the man who won in honduras i [52:43] endorsed the man who won in chile i endorsed the man who won in argentina and we are doing very well [52:50] with that whole group what the man that i pardoned was if you could equate it to us he was treated [52:56] like the biden administration treated a man named trump that didn't work out too well for them this was a [53:03] man who was persecuted very unfairly he was the head of the country he was persecuted very unfairly and [53:08] there are a number of them and we felt that it was a very unfair situation that happened to him [53:14] he's also a party member of the man who won so obviously the people liked what i did and one of [53:20] the reasons that was done is because of the fact that the party in power felt very strongly that that [53:26] man was treated very badly i studied it very quickly and then i studied it in great detail i went to a [53:32] lot of the people standing behind me and they felt that that man was persecuted and treated very badly [53:38] that's why i gave him a pardon you referenced boots on the ground earlier can you just sort of button [53:44] this up do you envision the u.s military having a presence in venezuela as the u.s runs that well [53:50] no we're going to have uh presence in venezuela as it pertains to oil because we have to have we [53:55] we're sending our expertise in uh so you may need something not very much but no we're going to be [54:01] taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground and that wealth is going to the people of [54:06] venezuela and people from outside of venezuela that used to be in venezuela and it goes also to [54:13] the united states of america in the form of reimbursement for the damages caused us by that [54:18] country so i want to thank you all very much thank you do you have one yes please you were so nice [54:23] before i'm going to give you the final question thank you mr unless it's a bad question in which case [54:28] i'll go one more it's about it's about putin if you want about putin well it's always nice you had a [54:32] you had a phone call with him on monday did he talk at all about maduro did you talk about this [54:39] no we didn't we never spoke about maduro are you mad at him right now i mean there's this i'm not [54:43] thrilled with putin i'm not thrilled with putin he's killing too many people i thought that would [54:50] be so i settled eight and one quarter war you know what the one quarter was thailand and cambodia i did [54:58] it again they were they broke out and i did it in about five hours and i settled it i'm giving [55:06] myself one quarter so i'm up to now eight and one quarter in other words i settled the war but then [55:10] they broke out they had a pretty bad breakout over the last four days i got them to go back to peace [55:17] so i only give one quarter i thought the easiest one would be one of the easier ones would be russia [55:23] ukraine it's not and they both have done some pretty bad things and look that's biden's war that's [55:31] not my war but i want to stop the lives did you see where last month 30 000 this last it was 27 27 [55:40] 000 the month before 30 000 mostly soldiers were killed this last month 30 000 i want to stop that [55:50] you know i got nato to pay five percent instead of the two percent that they weren't paying they [55:56] weren't paying two now they pay five and we send them a lot of munitions we send them a lot of things [56:02] missiles and various other things a lot and they pay the united states is not losing money we're [56:08] probably making money on that it's the last thing i care about i just want to stop all those people [56:13] we're losing 25 30 000 human beings that come from two places that are very far away [56:19] but if i can stop because it's something i've been pretty good at doing deals i guess it's all a deal [56:26] life is a big deal but if i can stop that war and stop 30 000 young people in addition to the fact [56:33] that people are being killed in kiev people are being killed in other cities throughout you know [56:38] a much smaller number but they're being killed viciously killed so i'm not happy about it i thought [56:43] that would be something that would get solved we have mr whitkoff here i think that we're making [56:48] progress but that's a war that should have never happened if i were president it would have never [56:54] happened putin says it everybody says it if i were president that would have never happened but i [57:00] inherited that war that was joe biden zielinski and putin i came into the situation and it's a mess [57:08] and i will say this i watched an operation last night that was so precise that was so brilliant [57:14] i mean it was incredible uh if we had our people like this general and our people involved that war [57:22] that war would not have gone on very long that i can tell you that war to use an old term that war [57:29] has become a bloodbath and we want it to get stopped thank you very much [57:49] and that was president trump live from mar-a-lago briefing the press about the u.s military strikes [57:54] in venezuela that resulted in the capture of nicolas maduro and his wife the pair are expected to be [58:01] brought to new york to be tried on drug smuggling and terrorism charges we'll replay the president's [58:07] remarks for you in a little bit but first some international reaction the united nations x account [58:14] posted this antonio gutter is deeply alarmed by escalation in venezuela culminating with u.s military [58:22] action today he's concerned that international law hasn't been respected he calls on all actors [58:28] in venezuela to engage in inclusive dialogue in respect of human rights and rule of law meanwhile [58:35] russia has called for a full meeting of the united nations security council to look into the matter [58:41] the russian foreign ministry released a statement that reads the united the u.s committed an act of [58:46] armed aggression against venezuela which gives rise to deep concern and warrants condemnation the pretext [58:53] used to justify these actions are untenable russia reaffirms its solidarity with the venezuelan people [59:02] and now we'll show you the president's news conference in about 40 minutes actually first elise [59:07] labet global affairs journalist and cosmopolitics substack newsletter author joined us on washington [59:14] journal this morning to discuss the situation in venezuela following american strikes and the capture [59:21] of president nicolas maduro by zoom is elise labet she is the substack founder and global affairs [59:30] journalist for cosmopolitics she is also a professor at the american university school of international [59:36] international service elise thank you for joining us good