‘It was a brilliant operation,’ says Trump after US captures Maduro and his wife

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the US attack on Venezuela and the mission to capture President Nicolás Maduro and his wife was a “brilliant operation”. Speaking to the New York Times (NYT) via a short telephone interview, Trump celebrated the success of the mission to capture Maduro by terming it as a “brilliant operation”. Praising the US attack on Venezuela and mission to capture its president, Trump said, “A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people. It was a brilliant operation, actually.”

When asked if he had sought congressional authority for the operation and what is next for the South American country, the US president told the NYT that he would address those questions during his press conference at Mar-a-Lago.

Also Read: Maduro kidnapped? Trump says ‘captured’ Venezuelan President and his wife, confirms US strikes

US was building up forces off Venezuela for months

Before Trump announced on Saturday that the United States had captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and had flown them out of Venezuela, the US military had launched one of the largest deployments of its forces to the Caribbean region in decades.

The US embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, issued an alert to Americans in Venezuela, telling them to shelter in place, citing “reports of explosions in and around” the city. It did not give details. The United States suspended operations at its embassy in Caracas in 2019.

Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said in her address on a state-run television that the whereabouts of Nicolás Maduro and his wife are unknown, and asked President Trump for a proof of life.

Also Read: US launches attack on Venezuela: Which sites are attacked?

Maduro captured with a $50 million US bounty out on him

The US government has been seeking Maduro’s arrest for years. He was indicted by a US court in March 2020, accused along with more than a dozen other individuals of narco-terrorism.

Last summer, the Trump administration doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture to $50 million.

‘Maduro will stand trial on criminal charges in the US¹

Maduro will stand trial on criminal charges in the US, Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah said after a phone call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio “informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by US personnel to stand trial on criminal charges,” he said.

Lee added that Rubio had told him he anticipates “no further action in Venezuela” now that Maduro is in US custody.

The “kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant,” he added.

“This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect US personnel from an actual or imminent attack,” he added.