Trump says U.S. will govern Venezuela until there’s a ‘proper transition’

President Donald Trump on Saturday said that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela in the wake of a U.S. military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” to new leadership, Trump said during a press conference in Florida.

The U.S. president added that he didn’t want a new leader to take over in the wake of Maduro’s capture that would result in “the same situation that we had for the last long period of 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, because that’s what we’re all about,” Trump added. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”

Trump’s remarks came after he announced early Saturday morning in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. had conducted strikes on Venezuela and captured Maduro and Flores.

In a phone interview with Fox News, the president confirmed that the Venezuelan president and first lady were en route to New York, where he said Maduro had been indicted.

The U.S. action was a stunning culmination of months of increased threats from Trump and his administration toward the Venezuelan leader. Carried out without congressional authorization, it immediately received pushback and questions from lawmakers. And it now leaves the future of Venezuela uncertain.

Trump, in his remarks, did not clarify what it would mean for the U.S. to “run the country” of Venezuela, but said that U.S. oil companies were prepared to make major investments in the country.

“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,” he said.

The U.S. president added that the U.S. military was prepared to strike Venezuela again if needed.

“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 need to do so,” Trump added.

Minutes before he spoke, Trump posted on Truth Social a photo of Maduro onboard the USS Iwo Jima wearing what appeared to be a blindfold and holding a bottle of water. Trump also posted a video of the U.S. strikes on Venezuela set to the song “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

In a post on X, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Venezuelan leader would “face the full wrath” of the U.S. justice system.

The charges against Maduro, in an indictment unsealed Saturday, include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

In the indictment, federal prosecutors alleged that Maduro “is at the forefront of that corruption and has partnered with his co-conspirators to use his illegally obtained authority and the institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States.”

They also allege that Maduro and other members of the Venezuelan government sold passports, provided protection and enabled the sale and transportation of hundreds of tons of illegal drugs through their ports, including drugs from several recognized Mexican drug cartels.

Maduro was first indicted, alongside 14 others, during Trump’s first administration in 2020 in the Southern District of New York. The Venezuelan leader first came to power in 2013 and was sworn in to a third term as president one year ago, despite evidence that Maduro did not win the preceding presidential election.

Two U.S. officials familiar with the planning told NBC News on Saturday that the U.S. president approved the military and law enforcement actions in Venezuela more than a week ago.

Trump told Fox News in the phone interview that the strike was slated to happen four days ago “but the weather was not perfect.”

“We had, you know, very good, a little bit few more clouds than we thought, but it was good,” he added. “We waited four days. We were going to do this four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, and then all of a sudden, it opened up, and we said go.”

Trump has for months hinted at taking action in Venezuela, telling NBC News last month, “I don’t rule it out,” when asked about going to war with Venezuela.

Days before that interview, the U.S. president announced a blockade of all “sanctioned” oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

Last month, the U.S. also seized two oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela and the U.S. military continued its strikes on boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea.

On Friday, just a day before he was captured, Maduro said in an interview on Venezuelan state television that he would be open to working with the U.S. to combat drug trafficking.

“The U.S. government knows, because we’ve told many of their spokespeople, that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we’re ready,” the Venezuelan president said.

In an interview with Politico in early December, Trump reiterated claims that Maduro was overseeing a campaign to send drug dealers and criminals to the U.S. illegally and blamed President Joe Biden’s administration for allegedly allowing them in.

“[Maduro] sent us millions of people, many from prisons, many drug dealers, drug lords, uh, mental institution … people in mental institutions. He sent them into our country, where we have a … where we had a very stupid president,” Trump said at the time.

On Saturday morning, Democratic lawmakers criticized the Trump administration for launching strikes on Venezuela, specifically pointing to the fact that the White House did not seek approval from Congress for the military action.

“Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, but I have seen no evidence that his presidency poses a threat that would justify military action without Congressional authorization,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement Saturday.

In a separate statement, Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said, “Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war.”

And in a post on X, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., wrote, “Without authorization from Congress, and with the vast majority of Americans opposed to military action, Trump just launched an unjustified, illegal strike on Venezuela.”

In the phone interview on Fox News late Saturday morning, Trump pushed back on Democrats’ criticism, calling them, “weak, stupid people.”

“As far as last night is concerned, it was really genius. What they did is genius, and the Democrats, maybe they’ll take a shot, you know? They’ll take a shot. All they do is complain,” the president added. “They should say, ‘You know what, we did a great job.’ … They do 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.”

Some of Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill defended his decision to execute the strikes and capture Maduro without congressional authorization.

“Today’s military action in Venezuela was a decisive and justified operation that will protect American lives,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in a post on X.

The Trump administration informed top lawmakers on the Senate and House intelligence committees about the U.S. military action to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after the operation was underway, three sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News.

The Republican chairs and the Democratic ranking members on the congressional intelligence committees were notified about the operation, the sources said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a statement Saturday that he had spoken to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and is expecting further briefings next week when the Senate returns from the holiday recess.

“I spoke to Secretary Rubio early this morning, and I look forward to receiving further briefings from the administration on this operation as part of its comprehensive counternarcotics strategy when the Senate returns to Washington next week,” Thune said.

In early November, a bipartisan group of senators voted in favor of a measure that would have required congressional approval for all future military action by the Trump administration in Venezuela. The measure failed and fell short of the 50 votes needed for passage.

The effort behind that measure came after the Trump administration began to publicize declassified videos of the military conducting kinetic strikes on boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea.

One of those strikes, conducted in early September, faced renewed scrutiny later last year after reports emerged that it was a “double tap” strike in which a second strike was conducted on an alleged drug boat after the first strike yielded survivors.

In early December, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the “double tap” strike was conducted in the “fog of war” and said he “didn’t personally see survivors,” after the first strike.

In October, Trump said the strikes were part of his administration’s fight against drug cartels but stopped short of saying he’d need a declaration of war to continue striking the boats.

“Well, I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay, we’re gonna kill them. You know, they’re gonna be like, dead,” he said at the White House at the time.

That same month, the U.S. president confirmed that he had authorized covert action by the CIA in Venezuela, but did not specify what the action was.

According to a source with knowledge of the matter on Saturday, the CIA had a small team clandestinely on the ground in Venezuela starting in August that was able to provide “extraordinary insight” into Nicolas Maduro’s movements, which made capturing him “seamless.”