US President Donald Trump elaborated Saturday on the dramatic operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, saying the United States would "run Venezuela" until a safe and proper transfer of power could be carried out.
Speaking at a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump offered new details about what he described as a historic military mission. Maduro, who faces numerous narco-terror charges, was apprehended in what Trump called a night-time raid "unlike anything since World War II."
"We don't want to go back to the same situation we had for so many years," Trump said, explaining the decision to install temporary US oversight. "That's why we're going to run the country."
He did not provide specifics on how or for how long the US would govern Venezuela.
The president praised the large number of forces involved in the special operation, claiming, "No nation in the world could have achieved what the United States did yesterday — or frankly, in such a short amount of time. All of Venezuela's military was neutralized. Our men and women in uniform, working with law enforcement, managed to capture Maduro on a dark and deadly night."
"They knew we were coming," Trump said, asserting that the Venezuelan military was quickly defeated. "Not a single American soldier was killed," he noted, though earlier in the day he had hinted at possible US casualties during an interview on "Fox & Friends."
