US President Donald Trump (R) looks on as US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks to the press following US military actions in Venezuela, at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 3, 2026. President Trump said Saturday that US forces had captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro after launching a "large scale strike" on the South American country.

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Saturday defended his regime-change military attack on Venezuela as a “law enforcement” operation to arrest a drug kingpin, just five weeks after having pardoned and released from prison a convicted drug kingpin and despite his multiple statements that the incursion was to gain access to oil.

“Our military, working with us, law enforcement, successfully captured Maduro,” Trump said, referring to Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, at a news conference from his Florida country club, where he has spent the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Trump went on to say that the US military would run Venezuela for the foreseeable future. “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” he said.

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

He also claimed that Venezuela had “stolen” oil from the United States.

“We built Venezuela’s oil industry with American talent, drive, and skill, and the socialist regime stole it from us during those previous administrations,” he said.........

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