On Saturday morning, Americans woke up to the shocking news that the U.S. had staged an operation in Venezuela, in which they captured the president of that country, Nicolas Maduro, along with his wife, to bring them back to the United States to face criminal charges.
Per CNN, US Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced that Maduro will be charged with “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.”
Congress has not authorized the operation, and it also leaves open questions about who will govern Venezuela going forward.
On Saturday, around the time he was to address the nation, Trump posted a photo of the Venezuelan leader, wearing sunglasses and what appeared to be handcuffs, with the caption “Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima.”
Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima.
(TS: 03 Jan 11:23 ET) pic.twitter.com/uHWmcm3K2V
— Commentary: Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) January 3, 2026
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Trump, earlier in the day, had announced the operation, also on Truth Social:
The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.…
— Commentary: Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) January 3, 2026
Maduro was taken by sea to the United States, which is why he was on that vessel.
Per a CNN analysis, “President Donald Trump has shown in a 74-word social media post that he can act decisively, suddenly and perhaps recklessly, in pursuit of his varied and varying foreign policy goals, with little regard for precedent, consequence or, it seems, international law… The operation to take Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife from their heavily guarded location in Caracas to – presumably – face the American court system, does follow a predictable albeit extreme pattern for what the US calls a fugitive, with a $50 million bounty on his head.”
On Saturday morning, Vice President JD Vance defended the action:
And PSA for everyone saying this was “illegal”:
Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 3, 2026
In 1990, under President George H.W. Bush, the U.S. carried out a similar operation, invading Panama to arrest General Manuel Noriega, also on drug charges.
Photo courtesy of a Truth Social screenshot.
