The United States mounted a "large-scale strike" in Venezuela early Saturday and said President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country after months of stepped-up pressure by Washington, an extraordinary nighttime operation announced by President Donald Trump on social media hours after the attack.
The U.S. is now deciding next steps for Venezuela, President Donald Trump said Saturday on Fox News, adding, "We'll be involved in it very much."
The legal authority for the attack was not immediately clear. The stunning American military action, which plucked a nation's sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 - exactly 36 years ago Saturday.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York. Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple would "soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts."
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on "narco-terrorism" conspiracy charges, but it was not previously known his wife had been and it wasn't clear if Bondi was referring to a new indictment.
