President Donald Trump announced Saturday that no United States servicemembers were killed and no equipment was lost in the capture of the now-former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Trump updated Americans on Operation “Absolute Resolve” during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, hours after announcing American forces levied “a large scale strike against Venezuela” as part of the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
“They knew we were coming, so they were in… what’s called a ready position, but they were completely overwhelmed and very quickly incapacitated,” Trump said.
“If you would have seen what I saw last night, you would have been very impressed. I’m not sure that you’ll ever get to see it, but it was an incredible thing to see,” he added.
The president then highlighted that Americans did not lose any servicemembers or equipment in the operation.
“Not a single American servicemember was killed, and not a single piece of American equipment was lost. We had many helicopters, many planes, many, many people involved in that fight,” he told the nation.
“Think of that. Not one piece of military equipment was lost. Not one service member was, more importantly, killed. The United States military is the strongest and most fearsome military on the planet, by far, with capabilities and skills our enemies can scarcely begin to imagine,” he added.
The president thanked U.S. forces involved in the mission earlier in his remarks.
“I want to thank the men and women of our military who achieved such an extraordinary success overnight with breathtaking speed, power, precision, and competence. You rarely see anything like it,” he said.
Trump revealed that the United States will “run” Venezuela until the time allows for a “safe, proper, and judicious transition.”
“We’re there now, but we’re going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place… We‘re going to run it, essentially, until such time as a proper transition can take place,” he shared.
Explosions were seen in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas ahead of Trump’s Truth Social post announcing the capture of Maduro and Flores, who were taken to the USS Iwo Jima. The president shared a photo of a blindfolded Maduro holding a bottle of water aboard the vessel shortly before the press conference began during the 11:00 a.m. ET hour.
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