President Trump Holds a Press Conference, Jan. 3, 2026

We appreciate you being here.

Late last night and early today, at my direction, the United States armed forces conducted an extraordinary

military operation in the capital of Venezuela.

Overwhelming American military power, air, land, and sea was used to launch a spectacular assault.

And it was a an assault like people have not seen since World War II.

It was a force against a heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracus to bring outlaw dictator Nicholas Maduro

to justice.

This was one of the most stunning, effective, and powerful displays of American military might and competence

in American history.

And if you think about it, we've done some other good ones like the attack on Solomi,

the attack on Albaghdaddy, and the obliteration and decimation of the Iran nuclear sites just recently

in an operation known as Midnight Hammer.

all perfectly executed and done. No

nation in the world could achieve what America achieved yesterday or frankly in just a short period of time.

All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered perilous as the men and women of our military working with US law

enforcement successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night. It was dark. The

uh lights of Karacus were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have.

It was dark and it was deadly, but captured along with his wife Celia Flores,

both of whom now face American justice.

Maduro and Flores have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. It's

Jay Clayton for their campaign of deadly naroterrorism against the United States and its citizens.

I want to thank the men and women of our military who achieved such an extraordinary success overnight with breathtaking speed, power, precision, and competence.

You rarely see anything like it. You've

seen some raids in this country that didn't go so well. They were an embarrassment. If you look back to

embarrassment. If you look back to Afghanistan or if you look back to the Jimmy Carter days, they were different days. We're a respected

different days. We're a respected country again like maybe like never before.

These highly trained warriors operating in collaboration with US law enforcement caught them in a very ready position.

They were waiting for us. They knew we had many ships out in the sea just sort of waiting. They

knew we were coming. So they were in a ready, what's called a ready position, but they were completely overwhelmed and

very quickly incapacitated.

If you would have seen what I saw last night, you would have been very impressed. I'm not sure that you'll ever

impressed. I'm not sure that 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. We had many helicopters, many planes, many

many people involved in that fight. But

think of that, not one piece of military equipment was lost. Not one service member was more importantly killed. The

United States military is the strongest and most fierce military on the planet by far with capabilities and skills. Our

enemies can scarcely begin to imagine we have the best equipment anywhere in the world.

There's no equipment like what we have.

And you see that even if you just look at the boats, you know, we've knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by sea.

90%. Each boat kills 25 on average 25,000 people. We knocked out 97%.

25,000 people. We knocked out 97%.

And those drugs mostly come from place called Venezuela.

We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. So, we don't want to be

transition. So, we don't want to be involved with having somebody else get in. And we have the same situation that

in. And we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years. So we are going to run the

years. So we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious

transition. And it has to be judicious

transition. And it has to be judicious because that's what we're all about. We

want peace, liberty, and justice for the great people of Venezuela.

And that includes many from Venezuela that are now living in the United States and want to go back to their country.

It's their homeland.

We can't take a chance at somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn't have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.

Had decades of that. We're not going to let that happen.

We're there now. And what people don't understand, but they understand as a as I say this, we're there now, but we're

going to stay until such time as the pro proper transition can take place. So,

we're going to stay until such time as we're going to run it essentially until such time as a proper transition can take place.

As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust for a long period of time.

They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could have been pumping and what could have taken place.

We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly

broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.

and we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so. So, we were prepared

to do a second wave if we needed to do so. We actually assumed that a second wave would be necessary,

but now it's probably not. the first

wave, if you'd like to call it that. The

first attack was so successful, we probably don't have to do a second, but we're prepared to do a second wave. A

much bigger wave, actually.

This was pinpoint, but we have a much bigger wave that probably won't have to do. this

partnership of Venezuela with the United States of America, a country that everybody wants to be in involved with because of what we were able to do and

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

And it will also make the many, many people from Venezuela that are living in the United States extremely happy. They

suffered. They suffered. So much was taken from them. They're not going to suffer anymore.

The illegitimate dictator Maduro was the kingpin of a vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and elicit drugs into

the United States. As alleged in the indictment, he personally oversaw the vicious cartel known as Cartel Deles

Solless, which flooded our nation with lethal poison responsible for the deaths of countless Americans. The many, many Americans, hundreds of thousands over

the years of Americans died because of him. Maduro and his wife will soon face

him. 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. They'll be

heading to ultimately New York and then a decision will be made, I assume, between New York and Miami or Florida.

But we have uh people where the overwhelming evidence of their crimes will be presented in a

court of law. And uh I've seen it. I've

seen what we have. It's uh

it's both horrible and breathtaking that something like this could have been allowed to take place. For many years after his term as president of Venezuela

expired Maduro remained in power and waged a ceaseless campaign of violence, terror, and subversion against the United States of

America, threatening not only our people, but the stability of the entire region. And you all saw it. In addition

region. And you all saw it. In addition

to trafficking gigantic amounts of illegal drugs that inflicted untold suffering and human destruction all over the country, all over in particular the

United States. Maduro sent savage and

United States. Maduro sent savage and murderous gangs including the bloodthirsty prison gang trend dearagua to terrorize American communities

nationwide. And he did indeed. They were

nationwide. And he did indeed. They were

in Colorado. They took over apartment complexes. They cut the fingers off

complexes. They cut the fingers off people if they call police. They were

brutal, but they're not so brutal now. And I

just have to congratulate our military Pete and everybody and our National Guard because the job that they've done, whether it's in Washington DC, where we

have a totally safe city where it was one of the most unsafe cities anywhere in the world, frankly, and now we have no crime in Washington DC. We haven't

had a killing. We had the terrorist attack a few weeks ago.

Uh little bit of a different kind of a a threat, but we haven't had a killing in a long period of time, six, seven months. We used to have two on average

months. We used to have two on average two a week in Washington, our capital.

We don't have that anymore. The

restaurants are opening. Everyone's

happy. They're going, they're walking their daughters. They're walking their

their daughters. They're walking their children, their wives. as they walk to restaurants. Restaurants are opening all

restaurants. Restaurants are opening all over Washington DC. So, I want to thank the National Guard. I want to thank our military and I want to thank law enforcement. Been amazing. And they

enforcement. Been amazing. And they

should do it with more cities. We're

doing it as you know and uh we're doing it in Memphis, Tennessee right now. And

crime is down. We've just sort of started a few weeks ago, but crime is down now 77%.

And uh the governor of Louisiana called great person and he wanted us to help him as you know in a certain very nice

part of Louisiana and we have done that and it's a rough it was a rough rough section and we have climbed down I I understand it's down to

almost nothing already after two and a half weeks. New Orleans. It's down to

half weeks. New Orleans. It's down to almost nothing and we've only been there for two and a half weeks. Can't imagine

why governors wouldn't want us to help.

We also helped, as you know, in Chicago and crime went down a little bit there.

We did a very small help because we had no no uh we had no working ability with the governor. The governor was a

the governor. The governor was a disaster and the mayor was a disaster.

But it knocked down Crown. But we're

pulling out of there when when they need us. We'll know. You'll know. you'll be

us. We'll know. You'll know. you'll be

writing about it. And likewise, Los Angeles where we saved Los Angeles early on where the head of the police department made a statement that if the

federal government didn't come in, we would have lost Los Angeles. That's

after long after the fires. That's when

they had the riots in Los. We did a great job. Got no credit for it

great job. Got no credit for it whatsoever. But that's okay. It doesn't

whatsoever. But that's okay. It doesn't

matter. We don't need the credit.

But we'll be pulling out when they need us. They'll call or we'll go back if we

us. They'll call or we'll go back if we have to. We'll go back. But we did a

have to. We'll go back. But we did a great job in various cities. But the

thing, the place that we're very proud of is Washington DC because it's our nation's capital. We took it from being

nation's capital. We took it from being a crimeridden mess to being one of the safest cities in the country. But the

gangs that they sent raped, tortured, and murdered American women and children. They were in all of the cities

children. They were in all of the cities I mentioned, Trendewa, and they were sent by Maduro to terrorize our people. And now Maduro

will never again be able to threaten an American citizen or anybody from Venezuela. There will no longer be

Venezuela. There will no longer be threats. For years, I've highlighted the

threats. For years, I've highlighted the stories of those innocent American whose lives were so heartlessly robbed by this Venezuelan terrorist organization.

Really, one of the worst. One of the worst, they say the worst.

Americans like 12-year-old Joselyn Nungarry from Houston. Beautiful Joselyn

Ngar. What happened to her?

They uh as you know, they kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered by Trendier Ragua animals. They murdered Joselyn

animals. They murdered Joselyn and left her dead under the bridge. There

was a bridge, a bridge that will never be the same to so many people after seeing what happened. As I've said many times, the

happened. As I've said many times, the Maduro regime emptied out their prisons, sent their worst and most violent monsters into the United States to steal

American lives. And they came from

American lives. And they came from mental institutions and insane asylums. They came from prisons and jails. The

reason I say both, they sound similar actually. Prisons

actually. Prisons little bit more, a little bit more hostile, a little bit tougher. A mental institution isn't as

tougher. A mental institution isn't as tough as an insane asylum. But we got them both. They sent from their mental

them both. They sent from their mental institutions. They sent from their

institutions. They sent from their jails, prisons. They were drug dealers.

jails, prisons. They were drug dealers.

They were drug kingpins. They sent

everybody bad into the United States, but no longer. And we have now a border where nobody gets through. In addition,

Venezuela unilaterally seized and sold American oil, American assets, and American platforms, costing us billions and

billions of dollars.

They did this a while ago, but we never had a president that did anything about it. They took all of our property was

it. They took all of our property was our property. We built it and uh we

our property. We built it and uh we never had a president that decided to do anything about it. Instead, they fought wars that were 10,000 miles away. We

built Venezuela oil industry with American talent, drive, and skill. And

the socialist regime stole it from us during those previous administrations. And they stole it

administrations. And they stole it through force.

This constituted one of the largest thefts of American property in the history of our country. Considered the

largest theft of property in the history of our country. Massive oil

infrastructure was taken like we were babies. So, we didn't do anything about

babies. So, we didn't do anything about it. I would have done something about

it. I would have done something about it. America will never allow foreign

it. America will never allow foreign powers to rob our people or drive us back into and out of our own hemisphere. That's

what they did.

Furthermore, under the now deposed dictator Maduro, Venezuela was increasingly hosting foreign adversaries in our region and acquiring menacing offensive weapons that could threaten US

interest and lives. And they used those weapons last night. They used those weapons last night potentially in league with the cartels operating along our border. All of these actions were in

border. All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy dating back more than two centuries

and uh not anymore.

All the way back it dated to the Monroe doctrines.

And the Monroe doctrine is a a big deal but we've superseded it by a lot by a real lot. They now call it the Donro

real lot. They now call it the Donro document. I don't know is uh Monroe

document. I don't know is uh Monroe doctrine. We sort of forgot about it. It

doctrine. We sort of forgot about it. It

was very important but we forgot about it. We don't forget about it anymore.

it. We don't forget about it anymore.

Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again. Won't happen. So just

questioned again. Won't happen. So just

in concluding for decades other administrations have neglected or even contributed to these growing security threats in the Western Hemisphere under

the Trump administration. We are

reasserting American power in a very powerful way in our home region and our home region is very different than it was just a short while ago. The future

will be and we did this in my first term. We had great dominance in my first

term. We had great dominance in my first term and we have uh far greater dominance right now. Everyone's coming

back to us. The future will be determined by the ability to protect commerce and territory and resources that are core to national security.

These are core to n our national security. Just like tariffs are, they've

security. Just like tariffs are, they've made our country rich and they've made our national security strong, stronger than ever before.

But these are the iron laws that have always determined global power.

And uh we're going to keep it that way.

We will secure our borders. We will stop the terrorists. We will crash the

the terrorists. We will crash the cartels. And we will defend our citizens

cartels. And we will defend our citizens against all threats, foreign and domestic. Other presidents may have

domestic. Other presidents may have lacked the courage or whatever to defend America, but I will never allow terrorists and criminals to operate with

impunity against the United States. This

extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives. Very

importantly, the embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect.

The American armada remains poised in position and the United States retains all military options until United States demands have

been fully met and fully satisfied.

All political and military figures and Venezuela should understand what happened to Madura can happen to them and it will happen to them if they

aren't just fair even to their people.

The dictator and terrorist Maduro is finally gone in Venezuela. People are

free. They're free again. It's been a long time for them, but they're free.

America is a safer nation this morning.

It's a prouder nation this morning because it didn't allow this horrible person and this country that was doing very bad things to us. It didn't allow

it to happen. and the western hemisphere is right now a much safer place to be.

So I want to thank everybody for being here. Uh I want to thank General Raisen

here. Uh I want to thank General Raisen Kaine. He's fantastic man. I've worked

Kaine. He's fantastic man. I've worked

with a lot of generals. I worked with some I didn't like. I worked with some I didn't respect. I worked with some they

didn't respect. I worked with some they just weren't good. But this guy is fantastic. I watched last night one of

fantastic. I watched last night one of the most precise attacks on sovereignty. him and it was an attack

on sovereignty. him and it was an attack for justice and I'm very proud of him and I'm very proud of our Secretary of War, Pete Hexath, who I'm going to ask

to say a few words. Thank you very much.

>> Well, thank you, Mr. President. Um,

finally, a commander-in-chief the world respects and the American people deserve. And as the president said,

deserve. And as the president said, words can barely capture the bravery and the power and the precision of this historic operation. A massive joint

historic operation. A massive joint military and law enforcement raid flawlessly executed by the greatest Americans our country has to offer.

American warriors are second to none.

The best in the world and the best of our country. What I what all of us

our country. What I what all of us witnessed last night was sheer guts and grit, gallantry and glory of the

American warrior. I'm simply humbled by

American warrior. I'm simply humbled by such man such men. And I tip my hat to our chairman Dan Raisen Kaine and all those Americans who stood watch last night. Our warriors

are the elite of America. And again,

President Trump has your back. No other

country on planet Earth, and it's not even close, could pull this kind of operation off. And no other president

operation off. And no other president has ever shown this kind of leadership, courage, and resolve. The most powerful combination the world has ever seen. As

the president said, our adversaries remain on notice. America can project our will anywhere, any time. The

coordination, the stealth, the lethality, the precision, the very long arm of American justice, all on full display in the middle of the night.

Nicholas Maduro had his chance just like Iran had their chance until they didn't and until he didn't. He effed around and he found out.

President Trump is deadly serious about stopping the flow of gangs and violence to our country. deadly serious about stopping the flow of drugs and poison to

our people. Deadly serious about getting

our people. Deadly serious about getting back the oil that was stolen from us.

And deadly serious about reestablishing American deterrence and dominance in the Western Hemisphere. This is about the

Western Hemisphere. This is about the safety security freedom and prosperity of the American people. This

is America first. This is peace through strength. and the United States War

strength. and the United States War Department is proud to help deliver it.

Welcome to 2026 and under President Trump, America is back. I'd like to welcome now our

back. I'd like to welcome now our chairman, Chairman Raisen Kaine, to give a few more details about the operation.

Mr. Chairman, >> thank you. Uh thank you, Mr. Secretary.

Thank you, uh Mr. President, and good morning. Last night on the order of the

morning. Last night on the order of the president of the United States and in support of a request from the Department of Justice, as the president said, the United States military conducted an

apprehension mission in Caracus, Venezuela, to bring to justice two indicted persons, Nicholas and Cecilia Maduro. This operation known as

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

the culmination of months of planning and rehearsal. An operation that frankly

and rehearsal. An operation that frankly only the United States military could undertake. What I'd like to do this

undertake. What I'd like to do this morning is talk you through some of the preparation and the details without compromising any of our tactics, techniques, and procedures. There is

always a chance that we'll be tasked to do this type of mission again. Our inter

agency work began months ago and built on decades of experience of integrating complex air, ground, space, and maritime operations. While the past two decades

operations. While the past two decades have honed the skills of our special operations forces, this particular mission required every component of our

joint force with soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardians working in unison with our intelligence agency partners and law enforcement teammates

in an unprecedented operation. We

leveraged our unmatched intelligence capabilities and our years of experience in hunting terrorists. And we could not have done this mission without the

incredible work by various intelligence agencies including the CIA, NSA and NGA.

We watched, we waited, we prepared, we remained patient and professional. This

mission was meticulously planned, drawing lessons from decades of missions over the last many years. Decades of

many missions over these last many years. This was an audacious operation

years. This was an audacious operation that only the United States could do. It

required the utmost of precision and integration within our joint force. And

the 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. All coming together in

coordination. All coming together in time and place to layer effects for a single purpose to get an interdiction

force into downtown Caracus while maintaining the element of tactical surprise.

Failure of one component of this welloiled machine would have endangered the entire mission and failure is never an option for America's joint force.

Those in the air over Caracus last night were willing to give their lives for those on the ground and in the helicopters.

Let me talk a little bit about the preparation. After months of work by our

preparation. After months of work by our intelligence teammates to find Maduro and understand how he moved, where he

lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore, what were his pets. In

early December, our force was set pending a series of aligned events. key

was choosing the right day to minimize the potential for civilian harm and maximize the element of surprise and minimize the harm to the indicted

personnel. So, as the president said,

personnel. So, as the president said, they could be brought to justice. And as

the president said earlier today, weather in Venezuela is always a factor this time of the year. And over the weeks through Christmas and New Year's,

the men and women of the United States military sat ready, patiently waiting for the right triggers to be met and 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 maneuver through. Ocean, mountain, low

maneuver through. Ocean, mountain, low cloud, ceilings. But when tasked with a

cloud, ceilings. But when tasked with a mission, this organization does not quit. At 10:46 p.m. Eastern time last

quit. At 10:46 p.m. Eastern time last night, the president ordered the United States military to move forward with this mission. He said to us, and we

this mission. He said to us, and we appreciate it, Mr. President, "Good luck and Godspeed." And those words were

and Godspeed." And those words were transmitted to the entire joint force.

Over the course of the night, aircraft began launching from 20 different bases on land and sea across the Western Hemisphere. In total, more than 150

Hemisphere. In total, more than 150 aircraft bombers fighters intelligence reconnaissance surveillance, rotary wing were in the

air last night. Thousands and thousands of hours of experience were airborne.

Our youngest crew member was 20 and our oldest crew member was 49. and there's

simply no match for American military might. As the night began, the

might. As the night began, the helicopters took off with the extraction force, which included law enforcement officers, and began their flight into

Venezuela at 100 ft above the water. As

they approached Venezuelan shores, the United States began layering different effects provided by Spacecom, CyberCom, and other members of the inter agency to

create a pathway overhead. Those forces

were protected from aircraft were protected by aircraft from the United States Marines, the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, and the Air

National Guard. The force included

National Guard. The force included F-22s F-35s F-18s EA18s E2s B1 bombers, and other support aircraft, as

well as numerous remotely piloted drones. As the force began to approach

drones. As the force began to approach Caracus, the joint air component began dismantling and disabling the air

defense systems in Venezuela, employing weapons to ensure the safe passage of the helicopters into the target area.

The goal of our air component is, was, and always will be to protect the helicopters and the ground force and get

them to the target and get them home. As

the force crossed the last point of high terrain where they'd been hiding in the clutter, we assessed that we had maintained totally the element of

surprise. As the helicopter force

surprise. As the helicopter force ingressed towards the objective at low level, we arrived at Maduro's compound

at 10:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time or 2:01 a.m. Caracus local time. and the

2:01 a.m. Caracus local time. and the

apprehension force descended into Maduro's compound and moved with speed, precision, and discipline towards their objective and isolated the area to

ensure the safety and security of the ground force while apprehending the indicted persons.

On arrival into the target area, the helicopters came under fire and they replied with that fire with overwhelming force in self-defense. One of our aircraft was hit but remained flyable.

And as the president said earlier today, all of our aircraft came home and that aircraft remained flyable during the rest of the mission. As the operation unfolded at the compound, our air and

ground intelligence teams provided realtime updates to the ground force, ensuring those forces could safely navigate the complex environment without

unnecessary risk. The force remained

unnecessary risk. The force remained protected by overhead tactical aviation.

Maduro and his wife, both indicted, gave up and were taken into custody by the Department of Justice, assisted by our incredible US military with

professionalism and precision, which with no loss of US life. After securing

the indicted persons, the force began to prep for departure. Helicopters were

called in to exfiltrate the extraction force while fighter aircraft and remotely piloted aircraft provided overhead coverage and suppressive fire.

There were multiple self-defense engagements as the force began to withdraw out of Venezuela. The force

successfully exfiltrated and returned to their afflat launch bases. And the force was over the water at 3:29 a.m. Eastern Standard Time with indicted

a.m. Eastern Standard Time with indicted persons on board. And both Maduro and his wife were embarked aboard the USS UIA.

In closing, what we've witnessed today is a powerful demonstration of America's joint force. We think, we develop, we

joint force. We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again. Not to get it

right, but to ensure that we cannot get it wrong. Our jobs are to integrate

it wrong. Our jobs are to integrate combat power so when the order comes, we can deliver overwhelming force at the

time and the place of our choosing against any foe anywhere in the world. I

am immensely proud today of our joint force and filled with gratitude to represent them here today. There is

simply no mission too difficult for these incredible professionals and the families that stand by them and support them. As we stand here this morning, our

them. As we stand here this morning, our forces remain in the region at a high state of readiness, pro prepared to

project power, defend themselves and our interests in the region. This operation

is a testament to the dedication and unwavering commitment to justice and our resolve to hold accountable those who threaten peace and stability. In

closing, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the brave men and women who executed this mission. Their courage and tireless commitment to our nation are

what makes us strong. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. And thank you, Mr. President.

Secretary. And thank you, Mr. President.

Well, I don't have much to add to what you've heard now other than the following points. Nicholas Maduro was

following points. Nicholas Maduro was indicted in 2020 in the United States.

He is not the legitimate president of Venezuela. That's not just us saying it.

Venezuela. That's not just us saying it.

The first Trump administration, the Biden administration, the second Trump administration, none of those three recognized him. He's not recognized by

recognized him. He's not recognized by the European Union and multiple countries around the world. He is a fugitive of American justice with a $50 million reward. Uh which I guess we save

million reward. Uh which I guess we save $50 million. And uh

$50 million. And uh >> make sure >> Yeah, exactly. But uh

>> don't let anybody claim it.

>> Nobody deserves it but us.

>> But I want to be clear about one thing.

Nicholas Maduro had multiple opportunities to avoid this. He was

provided multiple very very very generous offers and chose instead to act like a wild man. Chose instead to play around and the result is what we saw tonight. Uh the other message here is

tonight. Uh the other message here is the following. You have a guy like many

the following. You have a guy like many people around the world, they like to play games. You have a guy who decides

play games. You have a guy who decides he's going to invite Iran into his country, is going to, you know, do the confiscation of American oil companies.

He's going to flood our country with gang members. Is is going to take

gang members. Is is going to take Americans prisoner and try to hold them for hostage and trade them like he was able to do with the Biden administration. Basically likes to play

administration. Basically likes to play games all this time and thinks nothing's going to happen. And I hope what people now understand is we have a president.

The 47th president of the United States is not a game player. When he tells you that he's going to do something, when he's tells you he's going to address a problem, he means it. He actions it. I I

can tell you, I've watched this process now for 14, 15 years, been around it.

Everybody talks, I'm going to do this.

I'm going to do that. When I get there, we're going to do this. We're going to take This is a president of action.

Like, I don't understand yet how they haven't figured this out. And now, if you don't know, now you know, because this is the way it's going to play out.

And I think people need to understand that this is not a president that just talks and does letters and press conferences and you know if he says he's serious about something he means it and and this is something that was a direct threat to the national interest of the

United States and the president addressed it. There's a president of

addressed it. There's a president of peace by the way. I told you what I just said earlier. This guy had multiple

said earlier. This guy had multiple opportunities to find his way somewhere else and figure out another. He could

have been living somewhere else right now very happy but instead he wanted to play big boy. And so now you know he's got other sets of problems on his hands.

And uh but I think that the message here should be for the world. Look, the

president doesn't go out looking for people to pick fights with. He's not

generally wants to get along with everybody. We'll talk and meet with

everybody. We'll talk and meet with anybody, but don't play games. Don't

play games with this president's in office because it's not going to turn out well. And so I I hope that uh you

out well. And so I I hope that uh you know um you know, I guess uh that lesson was learned last night and um and we hope it'll be instructive moving forward.

Please, >> we're going to be running it with a group and we're going to make sure it's run properly. We're going to rebuild the

run properly. We're going to rebuild the oil infrastructure which will cost billions of dollars. It'll be paid for by the oil companies directly. Uh they

will uh be reimbursed for what they're doing, but that's going to be paid and we're going to get the oil flowing the way it should be. as you know, it was just a minor flow. It was actually a minor flow for what they have, but we're

going to run it properly and we're going to make sure the people of Venezuela are taken care of. We're going to make sure the people that were forced out of Venezuela by this thug are also taken

care of.

Does the US running the country mean that US troops will be on the ground?

How will that work?

>> Well, you know, they always say boots on the ground. You know, so we're not

the ground. You know, so we're not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to have We had boots on the ground last night at a very high level. Actually,

we're not afraid of it. We We don't mind saying it, but we're going to make sure that that country is run properly. We're

not doing this in vain. This is not This is a very dangerous attack. This is an attack that could have gone very very badly. Could have gone very badly. We

badly. Could have gone very badly. We

could have lost a lot of people last night. We could have lost a lot of uh

night. We could have lost a lot of uh dignity. We could have lost a lot of

dignity. We could have lost a lot of equipment. The equipment is less

equipment. The equipment is less important. But uh we could have lost a

important. But uh we could have lost a lot and we're going to make sure that this is proper. We're there now. We're

ready to go again if we have to. We're

going to run the c country right. It's

going to be run very uh judiciously, very fairly. It's going to make a lot of

very fairly. It's going to make a lot of money. We're going to give money to the

money. We're going to give money to the people. We're going to reimburse uh

people. We're going to reimburse uh people that were taken advantage of.

We're going to take care of everybody.

It's very important. We couldn't let them get away with it. You know, they stole our oil. We we built that whole industry there and they just took it over like we were nothing and we had a

president that decided not to do anything about it. So uh we did something about it. We're late but we did something about it. Yeah. Please

mechanism by which you're going to run the country. Are you going to designate

the country. Are you going to designate a US official?

>> It's all being it's all being done right now. We're designating people. We're

now. We're designating people. We're

talking to people. We're designating uh various people and we're going to let you know who those people are. know the

group you mentioned that would run Venezuela. Well,

Venezuela. Well, >> it's largely going to be for a period of time, the people that are standing right behind me, we're going to be running it.

We're going to be bringing it back. It's

a It's a dead, you know, I talk about a dead country. A year and a half ago, we

dead country. A year and a half ago, we were a dead country. Now, we're the hottest country anywhere in the world.

We're a country doing better than any country anywhere in the world. And it

required leadership. Venezuela has a lot of bad people in there, a lot of bad people that shouldn't be leading. We're

not going to take a chance at one of those people take over for Maduro. So,

uh, you can look at and and others. We

have fantastic people, including people in the military. So, we're gonna have a group of people running it until such time as it can be put back on track, make a lot of money for the people, and

give people a great way of life and also reimbursement for people in our country that were forced out of Venezuela.

>> Would be, >> you said earlier today that you weren't going to back Machado to come back and be the opposition leader in your Fox and Friends interview. And then you also

Friends interview. And then you also mentioned the vice president of Venezuela. Are you going to work with

Venezuela. Are you going to work with the vice president of Venezuela or how do you foresee the relationship? I

understand she was just sworn in, but she was, as you know, picked by Maduro.

So, Marco is working on that directly.

Just had a conversation with her and she's essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again. Very simple.

great again. Very simple.

>> Mr. President, uh so Colombian President Gustavo Petro uh you know, a couple weeks ago he said he's got to watch his ass. Um and today he said he's not

ass. Um and today he said he's not concerned about anything happening to him in the aftermath of this operation.

So, uh, just what your message is.

>> Well, he has cocaine mills. He has, uh, factories where he makes cocaine. And,

yeah, I think I stick by my first statement. He's making cocaine. They're

statement. He's making cocaine. They're

sending it into the United States. So,

he does have to watch his ass.

>> Did you notify any members of Congress in advance?

>> Mark, do you want to talk about that?

Because you were involved in it.

>> Sure. We call members of Congress immediately after. This was not the kind

immediately after. This was not the kind of mission that you can do congressional notification on. It was a a

notification on. It was a a trigger-based mission in which conditions had to be met night after night. We watched and monitor that for a

night. We watched and monitor that for a number of days. So, it's just simply not the kind of mission you can call people and say, "Hey, we may do this at some point in the next 15 days." But it's largely a law enforcement function.

Remember, at the end of the day, at at its core, this was an arrest of two indicted fugitives of American justice.

And the Department of War supported the Department of Justice in that job. Now,

there are broader policy implications here, but it's just not the kind of mission that you can pre-notify because it endangers the mission.

Pler, if I could add one thing to that, >> Congress has a tendency to leak. This

would not be good. If they leaked, General, I think it would have been maybe a very different result. But I I have to say they knew we were coming at some point. You know, a lot of ships out

some point. You know, a lot of ships out there. They sort of knew we were coming.

there. They sort of knew we were coming.

We went through. But but Congress Congress will leak and we don't want leakers.

>> President, you were one of the only people to watch this all play out live.

What was Maduro doing uh when the US forces entered what I assume would be his home? And also, was there any point

his home? And also, was there any point where the US was considering if Maduro pushed back or resisted killing Maduro?

>> What could have happened? It could have happened. He was trying to get into a

happened. He was trying to get into a safe place. You know, the safe place is

safe place. You know, the safe place is all steel and he wasn't able to make it to the door because our guys were so fast. They went through the opposition

fast. They went through the opposition so fast and there was a lot of opposition. You know, people were

opposition. You know, people were wondering, do we get them by surprise?

sort of surprised, but they were waiting for something. It was a lot of

for something. It was a lot of opposition. There was a lot of gunfire.

opposition. There was a lot of gunfire.

You saw some of it today. Uh, but he was trying to get to a safe place, which wasn't safe because we would have had the door blown up in about 47, I think

47 seconds they say on average, regardless of how thick the steel was.

It was a very thick door. It's a very heavy door, but he was unable to get to that door. He made it to the door. He

that door. He made it to the door. He

was unable to close it.

Go ahead. Finish.

>> Where is going to be in the time being right now? Do you know his exact

right now? Do you know his exact >> Well, eventually ultimately in the near future, he's going to be brought to New York.

>> And where is he going to be? Where is he going to be held in New York?

>> That's going to be up to the officials that do these things.

>> Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President, the US has something of a mixed track record of ousting dictators without necessarily a plan for what comes afterwards. That weigh on your

comes afterwards. That weigh on your decision.

>> Well, that's why we had different presidents, but with me, that's not true. with me. We've had a perfect track

true. with me. We've had a perfect track record of winning. We win a lot. And we

win. If you look at Solamani, you look at Al Baghdaddy, you look at the Midnight Hammer. Midnight Hammer was

Midnight Hammer. Midnight Hammer was incredible. Right now, you you wouldn't

incredible. Right now, you you wouldn't have peace in the Middle East. We if

essentially peace in the Middle East because of that. If you didn't if we weren't successful with Midnight Hammer, you wouldn't have peace in the Middle East. So, uh, with me, you've had a lot

East. So, uh, with me, you've had a lot of a lot of victory. You've had only victories. You've had no losses. Yeah.

victories. You've had no losses. Yeah.

>> How long do you expect the US to run Venezuela and how soon do you want Venezuelan people to hold election?

>> So, I'd like to do it quickly, but it takes a period of time. You know, we're rebuilding. We have to rebuild their

rebuilding. We have to rebuild their whole infrastructure. The infrastructure

whole infrastructure. The infrastructure is rotted. It's actually very dangerous.

is rotted. It's actually very dangerous.

It's a, you know, blowup territory. Oil

is very dangerous. It's a very dangerous thing to take out of the ground. Uh, can

kill a lot of people. It has killed a lot of people doing just that. Uh the

infrastructure is old. It's rotted. Much

of it is stuff that we put there 25 years ago and we're going to re be replacing it and we're going to take a lot of money out so that we can take care of the country. Yeah.

>> Are you saying that Secretary Rubio and Mr. President, China, Russia, and Iran have interests in Venezuela? How does

this operation affect your relationships with them when it comes to >> China and Russia? Uh well, Russia, when we get things straightened out, but in

terms of other countries that want oil, we're in the oil business. We're going

to sell it to we're not going to say we're not going to get in other words, we'll be selling oil uh probably in much larger doses because they couldn't produce very much because their infrastructure was so bad. So, we'll be

selling large amounts of oil to other countries, many of whom are using it now. But I would say many more will

now. But I would say many more will come.

Are you saying what is your message are you saying Mr. President are you saying behind you please Mr. President, thank you. What is your message to the people

you. What is your message to the people of Venezuela today? Of course, the civilian population specifically, they have a lot of questions. What is your message to the people of Venezuela?

>> You're going to have peace, justice.

You're going to have some of the riches that you should have had for a long period of time. It was stolen from you.

But you're going to have peace and you're going to have safety. You're

going to have justice. You're going to have a country. You're going to have a real country. You're going to have

real country. You're going to have potentially a great country. You know,

if you go back 20 years, maybe even a little longer ago, that was a great country. and they destroyed it. Remember

country. and they destroyed it. Remember

I said that if we lose this election, the United States will be Venezuela on steroids. That's what would have

steroids. That's what would have happened had we lost the election, the 2024 election. We suffered so badly.

2024 election. We suffered so badly.

When you look at the border from 2020, what what they did, what Joe Biden administration did to our country should never be forgotten. But if we had to go through another year of that, we

wouldn't have we would be exactly where Venezuela was in terms I I used to say if they win, we're going to be Venezuela on steroids and that's what would have happened.

>> President, thank you. Are you saying that Secretary Hegsth and Rubio are going to be running Venezuela? And will

you be sending in US military troops to provide >> that's working with the people of Venezuela to make sure that we have Venezuela right? Because for us to just

Venezuela right? Because for us to just leave, who's going to take over? I mean,

there is nobody to take over. You have a vice president who's been appointed by Maduro and right now she's the vice president and she's I guess the president. She was sworn in as president

president. She was sworn in as president just a little while ago. She had a long conversation with Marco and she said, "We'll do whatever you need." Uh she I

think she was quite gracious, but she really doesn't have a choice. We're

going to have this done right. We're not

going to just do this with Madura, then leave like everybody else. leave and

say, you know, let it go to hell. If we

just left, it has zero chance of ever coming back. We'll run it properly.

coming back. We'll run it properly.

We'll run it professionally. We'll have

the greatest oil companies in the world go in and invest billions and billions of dollars and take out money, use that money in Venezuela. And the biggest beneficiary going to be the people of

Venezuela. And also, I can't stress this

Venezuela. And also, I can't stress this strongly enough, the people that got thrown out of Venezuela that are now in the United States. And frankly, some want to stay. and some probably want to

go back. Yeah.

go back. Yeah.

>> In the country and were any of the detained Americans?

>> Well, right now they're very protected because nobody's going to mess with us.

They're very protected. The people of And we let them know that you better not touch one of them.

>> Are you concerned that bad elements of the Maduro regime will remain in place?

>> Well, we know who they are. We're on

them. And uh they're acting much differently now than they would have acted two days ago. Okay. Wait behind

you please.

>> Mr. President, why is running a country in South America, America first?

>> Well, I think it is because we want to surround oursel with good neighbors. We

want to surround oursel with stability.

We want to surround oursel with energy.

We have tremendous energy in that country. It's very important that we

country. It's very important that we protect it. We need that for ourselves.

protect it. We need that for ourselves.

We need that for the world. And we want to make sure we can protect it.

>> Yes, sir. Please go ahead.

>> Yeah. Is a message here for Cuba on US canals.

>> Well, Cuba is an interesting case. Cuba

is, you know, uh not doing very well right now. It that system is not been a

right now. It that system is not been a very good one for Cuba. The people there have suffered for many, many years. And

I think Cuba is going to be something we'll end up talking about because Cuba is a failing nation right now. Very

badly failing nation. and we want to help the people of it's very similar in the sense that we want 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. Do you want

to say something about that, Marco, please?

>> Well, I mean, I just gave you a statement a few minutes ago about uh you know, when the president speaks, you should take him seriously. Suffice it to say, you know, Cuba is a disaster. It's

it's run by incompetent scenile men and and in some cases not seen now, but incompetent nonetheless. It has no

incompetent nonetheless. It has no economy. It's in total collapse. And by

economy. It's in total collapse. And by

the way, you know, they were crit, you know, all of the guards that helped protect Maduro, this is well known, their whole spy agency, all that were full of Cubans. I mean, they basically, it's amazing, this poor c island took

over Venezuela in some cases. One of the biggest problems that Venezuelans have is they have to declare independence from Cuba. They tried to basically

from Cuba. They tried to basically colonize it from a security standpoint.

So, yeah, look, if I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I'd be concerned at least a little bit. turning

up the oil flow to Cuba from >> Well, the president already announced a week ago that anything that's sanctioned, it's sanctioned oil, it it's not going to be allowed to get there. So

that that's an pre-existing >> The answer is the answer is yes.

>> Mr. >> Yes.

Mado >> No, we haven't. No, we haven't.

>> Mr. President, >> Mr. president on on Monday.

>> Oh, I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country. She's a very nice woman,

the country. She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect.

>> Mr. President, is it possible that the US ends up administrating Venezuela for years, you know, in a situ?

>> Well, you know, it won't cost us anything because the uh money coming out of the ground is very substantial. So,

it's not going to cost us anything. We

will well, we want safety there. We want

to be surrounded by countries that aren't housing all of our enemies all over the world. That's what was happening. And you don't want to have

happening. And you don't want to have that. Uh but we're going to be

that. Uh but we're going to be rebuilding and and we're we're not spending money. The oil companies are

spending money. The oil companies are going to go in. They're going to spend money. They're going to we're going to

money. They're going to we're going to take back the oil that frankly we should have taken back a long time ago. A lot

of money is coming out of the ground.

We're going to get reimbursed for all of that. We're going to get reimbursed for

that. We're going to get reimbursed for everything that we spend. 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 a very big evening

that took place last night. We have to be surrounded by safe secure countries and we also have to have energy very important. We have to have energy that's

important. We have to have energy that's real energy not where they're getting 4% and 5% of the energy out of the ground.

You take a look it was such a disaster.

So what's going to happen with Venezuela I think over the next period of a year is going to be a great thing and the people of Venezuela will be the biggest beneficiaries

>> US military president. What did you last speak to Maduro about when you spoke?

And is the >> Well, I don't want to get into the conversations, but I did have conversations with him and I said, "Uh, you got to surrender."

And I actually thought he was pretty close to doing so, but now he wished he did. Yeah. Mr. Mr.

did. Yeah. Mr. Mr.

You said that Maduro is responsible for drug trafficking. You recently pardoned

drug trafficking. You recently pardoned the former president of Honduras who was convicted of many drug trafficking. Can

you explain how these two situations are >> well the you endorsed as you know the winning president the man who won in Honduras I endorsed the man who won in

Chile I endorsed the man who won in Argentina and we are doing very well with that whole group what the man that I pardoned was if you could equate it to

us he was treated like the Biden administration treated a man named Trump that didn't work out too well for them this was a man who was persecuted very unfair fairly. He was the head of the

unfair fairly. He was the head of the country. He was persecuted very unfairly

country. He was persecuted very unfairly and there are a number of them and we felt that it was a very unfair situation that happened to him. Uh he's also a party member of the man who won. So

obviously the people liked what I did and one of the reasons that was done is because of the fact that the party in power felt very strongly that that man was treated very badly. I studied it

very quickly and then I studied it in great detail. I went to a lot of the

great detail. I went to a lot of the people standing behind me and they felt that that man was persecuted and treated very badly. That's why I gave him a

very badly. That's why I gave him a pardon.

>> You referenced boots on the ground earlier. Can you just sort of button

earlier. Can you just sort of button this up? Do you envision the US military

this up? Do you envision the US military having a presence in Venezuela as the US runs that?

>> Well, no, we're going to have a presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil because we have to have we we're sending our expertise in. Uh, so you may need something, not very much, but no, we're

going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground. And

that wealth is going to the people of Venezuela and people from outside of Venezuela that used to be in Venezuela.

And it goes also to the United States of America in the form of reimbursement for the damages caused us by that country.

So, I want to thank you all very much.

Thank you. Do you have one? Yes, please.

>> You were so nice before. I'm going to give you the final question. Go ahead.

Unless it's a bad question, in which case I'll go one more. It's about

>> It's about Putin, if you want.

>> About Putin. Well, that's always nice to talk about Putin.

>> You had a phone call with him on Monday.

Did he talk at all about Maduro? Did

you'll talk about this?

>> No, we didn't. We never spoke about Maduro.

>> Are you mad at him right now? I mean,

there's this >> I'm not thrilled with Putin. I'm not

thrilled with Putin. He's killing too many people.

>> Was that >> I thought that would be So, I settled eight and one quarter war. You know what the one quarter was? Thailand and

Cambodia. I did it again. They were they broke out and I did it in about five hours and I settled it. I'm giving

myself one quarter. So I'm up to now eight and one quarter. In other words, I settled the war, but then they broke out. They had a pretty bad breakout over

out. They had a pretty bad breakout over the last four days. I got them to go back to peace. So I only give one quarter. I thought the easiest one would

quarter. I thought the easiest one would be one of the easier ones would be Russia, Ukraine. It's not. And uh they

Russia, Ukraine. It's not. And uh they both have done some pretty bad things.

And look, that's Biden's war. That's not

my war. But I want to stop the lives.

Did you see where last month 30,000 this last it was 27 27,000 the month before 30,000

mostly soldiers were killed this last month. 30,000. I want to stop that. You

month. 30,000. I want to stop that. You

know, I got NATO to pay 5% instead of the 2% that they weren't paying. They

weren't paying two. Now they pay five.

And we send them a lot of munitions. We

send them a lot of things, missiles and various other things. A lot. And they

pay. The United States is not losing money. We're probably making money on

money. We're probably making money on that. It's the last thing I care about.

that. It's the last thing I care about.

I just want to stop all those people.

We're losing 25 30,000 human beings.

They come from two places that are very far away. But if I can stop because it's

far away. But if I can stop because it's something I've been pretty good at doing deals. I guess it's all a deal. Life is

deals. I guess it's all a deal. Life is

a big deal. But if I can stop that war and stop 30,000 young people in addition to the fact that people are being killed in Kiev, people are being killed in other cities throughout, you know, a

much smaller number, but they're being killed, viciously killed. So I'm not happy about it. I thought that would be something that would get solved. We have

Mr. Whit here. I think that we're making progress, but that's a war that should have never happened. If I were president, it would have never happened.

Putin says it. Everybody says it. If I

were president, that would have never happened. But I inherited that war. That

happened. But I inherited that war. That

was Joe Biden. Zalinsky and Putin. I

came into the situation and it's a mess.

And I will say this, I watched an operation last night that was so precise, that was so brilliant. I mean,

it was incredible. Uh, if we had our people like this general and our people involved, that war, that war would not have gone on very long. That I can tell you

that war, to use an old term, that war has become a bloodbath.

And we want it to get stopped. Thank you

very much, everybody.