Trump on Venezuela: “We’re going to run the country
The president said the U.S. will “run” Venezuela on a temporary basis.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Mr. Trump told reporters.
The president said “we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years.”
“So, we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition, and it has to be judicious,” he added.
Mr. Trump said “we want peace, liberty and justice for the great people of Venezuela.”
The president outlined that “all Venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless as the men and women of our military, working with U.S. law enforcement, successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night.”
The president said Venezuela was in a “ready position,” but he said “they were completely overwhelmed and very quickly incapacitated.”
“It was an incredible thing to see,” he said.
Mr. Trump said no American service members were killed and no U.S. equipment was lost in the operation.
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By Kaia Hubbard
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11:46 AM
Trump lauds “extraordinary military operation” in Venezuela
The president praised the military operation in Venezuela, speaking at a news conference at his estate at Mar-a-Lago.
“Late last night and early today at my direction, the United States armed forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela,” Mr. Trump said, in opening remarks that began at about 11:40 a.m. “Overwhelming military power, air land and sea, was used to launch a spectacular assault, and it was an assault like people have not seen since World War II.”
The president said “it was a force against a heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas to bring outlaw dictator Nicolás Maduro to justice.””This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and confidence in American history,” Mr. Trump said.
