US troops and a helicopter came under fire during the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump said on Saturday, revealing new details about the overnight raid.
Trump, speaking to Fox News, said American forces stormed what he described as a “very highly guarded” building, “like a fortress,” and closed in on Maduro before he could reach a “safety space” surrounded by steel.
“I think we had nobody killed, I have to say, because a couple of guys were hit. But they came back, and they’re supposed to be in pretty good shape,” Trump said.
“We lost no aircraft; everything came back — we got it all back. One of them was hit pretty hard — a helicopter — but we got it back,” the president added.
The Pentagon referred questions about Trump’s comments to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for additional information.
Trump earlier said the US had carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela, capturing Maduro and his wife and flying them out of the country. The operation, he said, was done in coordination with American law enforcement.
Luis JAIMES / AFP
Attorney General Pamela Bondi said Maduro has been indicted in the Southern District of New York and charged with various drug-related offenses. “They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” she added.
Video footage shared on social media showed helicopters flying low to the ground in Venezuela. Caracas said American forces targeted military and civilian areas and strongly condemned the strikes.
Speaking on Fox, Trump said that the US “turned off almost all of the lights in Caracas.” He described the raid as being “very organized,” with American forces working under near total darkness.
He declined to say which American forces participated in the raid. He said only that they’re “the most highly trained soldiers in the world,” adding that “there’s nobody that has their talent.”
He said the operation was planned with “pinpoint” accuracy, and that the US “built a house which was identical to the one they went into” — a tactic similar to what the US did ahead of the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.
The US has built up a massive military presence in the Caribbean Sea in recent months, gathering advanced warships, fighter jets, and an aircraft carrier, with the White House repeatedly threatening military action against Venezuela. He accused the country’s leadership of facilitating drug-trafficking — claims Maduro rejected.
Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/REUTERS
US forces have carried out dozens of strikes against alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing over 100 people, and seized multiple Venezuela-linked oil tankers in the region.
Last month, US media reported that the CIA carried out a drone strike inside Venezuela, marking the first known operation in the country since Trump’s pressure campaign began. At that time, it was unclear whether he intended to escalate further.
“We were going to do this four days ago, but the weather was not perfect,” Trump said of the operation to capture Maduro during his interview with Fox on Saturday. “We had just the perfect weather.”
The president later said that the US is going to be strongly involved in Venezuela’s oil industry moving forward.
Several leaders of countries in the region quickly condemned the strikes in Venezuela. Democratic US lawmakers blasted the Trump administration for the operation, while some Republicans voiced their support.
