Trump:

No nation in the world could achieve what America achieved yesterday.

All Venezuelan military capabilities were rendered powerless as the men and women of our military, working with U.S. law enforcement, successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night.

It was dark. The lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to certain expertise that we have. It was dark and it was deadly—but he was captured.

Trump:

These highly trained warriors, operating in collaboration with U.S. law enforcement, caught them in a very ready position. They were waiting for us.

They knew we had many ships out at sea, just sort of waiting. They knew we were coming.

They were completely overwhelmed—very quickly incapacitated.

Trump:

If you had seen what I saw last night, you would have been very impressed. I’m not sure you’ll ever get to see it, but it was an incredible thing to see.

Not a single American service member was killed, and not a single piece of American equipment was lost.

BREAKING: Trump says U.S. is going to run Venezuela.

We’re going to run the country until such time as we can have a safe, proper, and judicious transition.

We don’t want to be involved in having somebody else step in and end up with the same situation.

BREAKING: Trump:

We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies—the biggest anywhere in the world—go in and spend billions of dollars to fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.

We’re ready to stage a second and much larger attack if needed.

Trump:

We will make the people of Venezuela rich, independent, and safe.

Trump:

Maduro and his wife will soon face the full might of American justice and stand trial on American soil.

Right now, they’re on a ship and will ultimately be taken to New York.

After that, a decision will be made—presumably between New York and Miami, or Florida.

Trump:

We built the Venezuelan oil industry with American talent, and the socialist regime stole it from us through force.

Trump:

Under the now-deposed dictator Maduro, Venezuela increasingly hosted foreign adversaries in our region and acquired menacing offensive weapons that could threaten U.S. interests and lives.

They used those weapons last night.

Trump:

The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we superseded it by a lot — by a real lot.

Now they call it the “Donroe Doctrine.” I don’t know.

Trump:

Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.

Trump:

The American armada remains in position, and the United States retains all military options until U.S. demands are fully met and satisfied.

All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand this: what happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them if they are not fair—even to their own people.

Hegseth:

No other country on planet Earth—and it’s not even close—could pull off this kind of operation.

And no other president has ever shown this level of leadership, courage, and resolve, forming the most powerful combination the world has ever seen.

Hegseth:

America can project our will anywhere, anytime.

Maduro had his chance, just like Iran had their chance, until they didn’t.

He f’d around and he found out.

Hegseth:

President Trump is deadly serious about stopping the flow of gangs and violence into our country—deadly serious about stopping the flow of drugs and poison to our people, deadly serious about getting back the oil that was stolen from us, and deadly serious about re-establishing American deterrence and dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

This is America First. This is peace through strength.

Under President Trump, America is back.

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

This operation, known as Operation Absolute Resolve, was discreet, precise, and conducted during the darkest hours of January 2nd.

It was the culmination of months of planning and rehearsal—an operation that, frankly, only the United States military could undertake.

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

Our interagency work began months ago and built on decades of experience integrating complex air, ground, space, and maritime operations. Over the past two decades, our special operations forces have honed these skills.

This mission required every component of our joint force—soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardians—working in unison with our intelligence community and law enforcement partners in an unprecedented operation.

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

After months of work by our intelligence teammates to locate Maduro and understand his movements—where he lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore, even his pets—in early December our force was set, pending a series of aligned events.

Key to the mission was choosing the right day to minimize the potential for civilian harm, maximize the element of surprise, and minimize risk to the indicted individuals so they could be brought to justice. As the president said earlier today, weather in Venezuela is always a factor this time of year.

Over the weeks through Christmas and New Year’s, the men and women of the United States military remained ready, patiently waiting for the right conditions and for the president to order us into action.

Last night, the weather broke just enough, clearing a path that only the most skilled aviators in the world could navigate—through ocean crossings, mountains, and low cloud ceilings.

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

The force included F-22s, F-35s, F-18s, EA-18s, E-2s, B-1 bombers, other support aircraft, and numerous remotely piloted drones.

As the force approached Caracas, the joint air component began dismantling and disabling Venezuelan air-defense systems, employing weapons to ensure the safe passage of helicopters into the target area. The goal of the air component was, and always will be, to protect the helicopters and the ground force—to get them to the target and get them home.

As the force crossed the final high terrain where they had been masked by clutter, we assessed that the element of surprise had been fully maintained. As the helicopter force ingresssed at low level toward the objective, we arrived at Maduro’s compound at 1:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, or 2:01 a.m. local Caracas time.

The apprehension force descended into the compound and moved with speed, precision, and discipline, isolating the area to ensure the safety and security of the ground force while apprehending the indicted individuals. Upon arrival, the helicopters came under fire and responded with overwhelming force in self-defense. One aircraft was hit but remained flyable.

As the president stated earlier today, all U.S. aircraft returned home safely.

Marco Rubio: He was a fugitive from American justice with a $50 million reward—which, I guess, means we saved $50 million.

Trump: And no, nobody should try to claim it. Nobody deserves it but us.

Marco Rubio:

But I want to be clear about one thing: Nicolás Maduro had multiple opportunities to avoid this.

He was given multiple very, very generous offers and chose instead to act recklessly—to play games.

The result is what we saw tonight.