Trump said the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife following military strikes on the country.

The Trump administration launched a major military attack on Venezuela on Saturday morning, bombing facilities and capturing leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife and flying them to the United States to face charges. President Donald Trump said the U.S. will temporarily “run” Venezuela and work to tap the country’s massive oil reserves.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition” to new leadership, Trump said at a news conference in Florida. He didn’t provide more detail about how the U.S. would control Venezuela, saying a group of officials would be named to oversee it.

Trump said he didn’t want a new leader to take over in the wake of Maduro’s capture who would result in “the same situation that we had for the last long period of years.”

“We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind,” he said.

‘Not afraid of boots on the ground’

Trump added that the U.S. military was prepared to strike Venezuela again if needed.

“We are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so. So we were prepared to do a second wave if we need to do so,” he added.

After reporters asked whether the United States’ running Venezuela will involve military personnel on the ground, Trump said, “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground.”

“We don’t mind saying it, but we’re going to make sure that that country is run properly. We’re not doing this in vain,” he added.

Trump’s remarks were delivered at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he was flanked by some of his top advisers — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Asked later Saturday whether he was prepared to have troops on the ground in Venezuela, Hegseth told CBS News that Trump would “set the terms, and ultimately, he’ll decide what the iterations are of that.”

“We’re going to control what happens next. Because of this brave decision, President Trump has shown American leadership, and he’ll be able to dictate where we go next,” he said.

Maduro flown to New York

Trump confirmed at the news conference that Maduro and his wife were en route to New York, where, he said, Maduro had been indicted. Maduro arrived in New York on Saturday afternoon and could appear in court as early as Monday.

Trump said that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez “was sworn in as president just a little while ago” and that she had a “gracious” conversation with Rubio to offer her support.

But on state television later, Rodríguez told the Venezuelan public, “We demand the immediate liberation of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores,” calling Maduro “the only president of Venezuela.”

Venezuela’s supreme court on Saturday night issued an order instructing Rodríguez to assume the role of acting president with immediate effect.

U.S. capture of Maduro was months in the making

The military operation, which officials said had been planned for months and took several hours, is the latest move that the Trump administration has described as part of a crackdown on drugs entering the U.S. It comes just weeks before the first anniversary of Trump’s second inauguration.

Two U.S. officials familiar with the planning told NBC News on Saturday that Trump approved the military and law enforcement actions in Venezuela more than a week ago.

In remarks Saturday, Caine confirmed that military forces waited over a week for the weather to clear up.

“Weather in Venezuela is always a factor this time of the year, and over the weeks through Christmas and New Year’s, the men and women of the United States military sat ready, patiently waiting for the right triggers to be met and the president to order us into action,” Caine told reporters.

“Last night, the weather broke just enough, clearing a path that only the most skilled aviators in the world could maneuver through,” he said.

Caine said that Trump gave the order to go at 10:46 p.m. ET Friday and that military forces arrived at Maduro’s compound by 1:01 a.m. ET Saturday. By 3:29 a.m. Saturday, Caine said, the military forces were back over water with Maduro and Flores.

Trump, who said he watched the operation unfold live from Mar-a-Lago, said Maduro “was trying to get into a safe place” made of steel as U.S. military forces stormed his compound.

_{^{A photo the White House released on Truth Social appears to show Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.}}

“He was trying to get to a safe place, which wasn’t safe, because we would have had the door blown up in about 47 — I think, 47 seconds,” Trump said. “It was a very thick door, a very heavy door, but he was unable to get to that door. He made it to the door. He was unable to close it.”

Caine said the aircraft used in the operation included multiple types of military planes, as well as remotely piloted drones, all of which he said helped protect the helicopters and personnel in Caracas. Caine added that the U.S. helicopters were fired on and that U.S. forces “replied to that fire with overwhelming force in self-defense.”

Caine added that one U.S. military aircraft sustained damage but was still able to fly. Later Saturday, a U.S. official and a White House official told NBC News that the operation in Caracas resulted in several injuries to U.S. troops, all of whom remain stable.

Vice President JD Vance was also involved in the military operations, according to a spokesperson.

Indictment allegations

Minutes before he spoke at Mar-a-Lago, Trump posted a photo on Truth Social appearing to show Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima wearing what appeared to be a blindfold and holding a bottle of water. Trump also posted a video of the U.S. strikes on Venezuela set to “Fortunate Son,” a famous anti-war song by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X that Maduro would “face the full wrath” of the U.S. justice system.

The charges, in an indictment unsealed Saturday, include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

In the indictment, federal prosecutors alleged Maduro “is at the forefront of that corruption and has partnered with his co-conspirators to use his illegally obtained authority and the institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States.”