US President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 29, 2025. JOE RAEDLE / AFP
President Donald Trump struck a triumphant note over the capture of Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, January 3, saying he had watched live as US forces seized the Venezuelan leader from a "fortress."
"I've never seen anything like this. I was able to watch it in real time," the 79-year-old Republican said in a telephone interview with Fox News. "I watched it, literally, like I was watching a television show. And if you would have seen the speed, the violence."
Trump said no US troops were killed in the dramatic operation, adding that the Venezuelan president and his wife had been taken to a ship and would then be sent to New York, where they face drug and terrorism charges. The US president, who is at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, said he had spoken to Maduro a week ago and told him "you have to surrender."
He added that the United States would not allow anyone to take over where Maduro "left off" – while skirting around whether he backed Nobel Peace laureate Maria Machado to be the next president.
