President calls deposed leader Maduro a ‘violent guy’ in speech that receives warm reception from Republicans
Donald Trump has received rapturous acclaim from congressional Republicans as he touted a “brilliant” and “incredible” attack on Venezuela that led to the capture of its leader, Nicolás Maduro.
The US president is facing accusations from former allies, such as ex-congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, that he abandoned his “America First” commitment to avoid foreign entanglements and eschew regime change.
But when Trump delivered a near 90-minute speech to House Republicans at their annual retreat in Washington on Tuesday, he was given a warm reception and there was little sign that the deadly weekend assault on Venezuela had caused cracks in his support.
“It was an amazing military feat that took place,” Trump said, prompting a whoop from the audience and sustained applause. “Well, thank you. You know, people are saying it goes down with one of the most incredible – it was so complex, 152 airplanes – many talk about boots on the ground – we had a lot of boots on the ground but it was amazing.”
