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US President Donald Trump today revealed details regarding the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
According to Trump, Maduro was in his apartment and attempted to take refuge in a steel armored room before being captured by US forces.
"We could have killed him. Maduro tried to enter a room made entirely of steel, but he couldn't close the door because our guys were faster. There was an exchange of fire and resistance during the operation ," Trump said today.
The US president said his forces would have been able to blow down the armored door, but added that the objective was to capture, not kill, the Venezuelan leader.
Trump also commented on the fact that the US Congress was not informed about the operation to capture Maduro, saying that the US Congress has a tendency to leak information and that, according to him, if the details of the operation had been made public in advance, the outcome would have been different.
At 10:46 p.m., President Trump launched a plan to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, after months of rising tensions and failed diplomacy.
The mission, known as "Operation Absolute Resolve," was the culmination of months of planning and testing by US military officials and the intelligence community, according to the Chairman of the Army Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine.
The groundwork for the operation was laid by the US intelligence community, which followed Maduro for months to "understand how he moved, where he lived, where he traveled, where he ate, what he wore," Caine said at a press conference alongside Trump.
How did Maduro's capture happen?
Following Trump's order on Friday evening, over 150 US aircraft, including bombers, fighter jets, intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft, were launched from 20 different bases on land and sea in Venezuela, Caine told reporters.
US helicopters took off with an extraction force, which included law enforcement officers, and began their flight towards Venezuela at 100 meters above the water. As they approached the coastline, the US began to "layer various effects" provided by US Space Command, US Cyber Command and other commands to "create a path".
These forces were protected by F-22, F-18, F-35, E/A-18, E-2 aircraft, B-1 bombers, and remotely piloted drones, which began “dismantling and disabling” Venezuelan air defense systems and using weapons to ensure safe passage for helicopters into Caracas.
Caine said that as the forces crossed the last point of high ground where they had been hiding in the confusion, we assessed that we had fully preserved the element of surprise.
As Trump watched a live broadcast of the operation from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US forces arrived at Maduro's compound at 1:01 a.m. EST.
As they were entering, the troops were fired upon, with one of the helicopters being hit but still able to fly.
The service members, along with FBI agents, then entered Maduro’s residence, which Trump described as “very well-guarded” and a “fortress.” Trump also said the Venezuelan leader tried unsuccessfully to go to a safe room.
Meanwhile, Caine said that US Special Forces moved with "speed, precision and discipline" to ensure security and ultimately arrested Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who "surrendered."
The couple was taken into custody by the Department of Justice and with the assistance of the US military.
US forces at Maduro's compound received real-time updates from air and ground intelligence teams. Helicopters were then called in to gather the extraction force, while fighter jets and drones fired suppressive fire from above. There were also "multiple self-defense engagements" as the forces began to withdraw from the site.
US forces left Venezuelan territory and were on the water at 3:29 a.m. EST with Maduro and his wife, who then disembarked on the USS Iwo Jima, the Navy's Wasp-class amphibious assault ship.
"We think we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debate, we rehearse again and again, not to get it right, but to make sure we can't get it wrong ," Caine said.
After Maduro's capture, Trump said the US team, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, would "run" Venezuela until a transition occurs. Trump did not rule out the possibility of deploying US troops on the ground in Venezuela.
"We're not afraid of soldiers on the ground if necessary. Last night we had soldiers on the ground at a very high level. We're going to make sure the country is run properly. We're there now. We're ready to go back if we have to," Trump said later during the press conference, adding that the US would also control the country's lucrative oil industry.
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