Donald Trump has given a news conference after the US launched strikes on Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro
The US president says the US is going to "run" Venezuela "until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition"
US oil companies will fix Venezuela's "broken infrastructure" and "start making money for the country", Trump added
He says no US servicemen were killed in the operation and the US is "ready" to stage a second "and much larger" attack on the country if needed
Trump, a sharp critic of the US invasion of Iraq, now seems to be in the business of nation-building. Just before he began speaking, Trump shared a photo he said was of Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima - the image shows him blindfolded and wearing ear defenders.
A little earlier, Maduro was indicted in New York on drugs and weapons charges - the US attorney general says he'll "face the full wrath of American justice". Maduro has previously denied being the leader of drug cartel
Venezuela has declared a national emergency, denouncing "extremely serious military aggression" - BBC Verify identifies locations hit in the attack...
Trump warned Venezuelan officials in an interview with Fox News “if they stay loyal [to Maduro], the future is really bad, really bad for them,” but said “most of them have converted.” He also dismissed concerns being raised by some lawmakers that he did not seek proper congressional approval for the strikes, telling the network, “they should say ‘great job,’ they shouldn’t say ‘oh, gee, maybe it’s not constitutional.’ You know the same old stuff that we’ve been hearing for years and years and years.”
Maduro was indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices, according to an unsealed indictment, the same four charges he faced in 2020, though the fresh indictment also names his son Nicolás Maduro Guerra and Flores as co-defendants.
Trump said no American troops were killed, but suggested in an interview with Fox News some were injured when a helicopter was hit in the operation.
Key Background
The strikes follow a months-long U.S. military campaign against Venezuela the Trump administration has said is designed to target drug cartels. The U.S. has conducted dozens of strikes on vessels in the Caribbean it alleges were being used to smuggle drugs into the U.S., killing more than 100 people. The U.S. military has also built up its presence in the Caribbean and intercepted Venezuelan oil tankers in recent weeks. It also conducted a drone strike on a dock in Venezuela last month, The New York Times previously reported. Maduro—whom the Trump administration has accused of being a “narco-terrorist”—was indicted in the U.S. in 2020 on charges of heading a violent drug cartel. The U.S. views him a fugitive and offered an award of up to $50 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.