The Benny Show - Benny Johnson - 🚨Trump Speaking LIVE As Communist Dictator Maduro CAPTURED, Assault on Venezuela, Reporters SHOCKED

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Jan. 3, 2026 - The Benny Show - Benny Johnson

01:49:52

🚨Trump Speaking LIVE As Communist Dictator Maduro CAPTURED, Assault on Venezuela, Reporters SHOCKED

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39:38

donald j trump

admin 37:05

gen dan caine

10:30

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cnn 00:35

bryan llenas

fox 01:55

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admin 03:53

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admin 02:37

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fox 00:27

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00:10

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00:09

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Speaker	Time	Text
bryan llenas ▲ ● ▼		It's Saturday in America.
		I'm Brian Yenis, in for Kaylee McInnini, and we've got breaking news this morning.
		Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife are now in American custody.
		And according to President Trump, just moments ago, they are en route to New York.
		You are looking live at Caracas, Venezuela, where explosions were heard around 2 a.m. local time.
		The U.S. military carrying out a large-scale strike leading to the capture of Maduro and his wife.
		Now, the American legal system is vowing to bring him to justice in the fight against narco-terrorism.
		We are all over the global reaction to this monumental moment in history as Venezuelans and the world wake up to a whole new reality.
		And we expect to hear from President Trump just one hour from now.
		Let's go right to Madeline Rivera at the White House with the very latest.
		Madeline.
unidentified		Good morning, Brian.
bryan llenas ▲ ● ▼		The president speaking to Fox and friends in the last hour saying that this was a last-ditch effort after all other attempts to get Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down from power failed.
		The president watched this operation unfold in real time, praising it as a success, even though he says a couple of people were hit.
		He spoke about the complexity of this operation, which appears to have been in the works for some time now.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		We waited four days.
		We were going to do this four days ago, three days ago, two days ago.
		And then all of a sudden it opened up and we said go.
		And I'll tell you, it was just amazing.
		And what was he doing?
		He was in a very highly guarded, like a fortress, actually.
		He was in a fortress.
		You know, that we had nobody killed was amazing.
bryan llenas ▲ ● ▼		President Trump says Maduro and his wife Celia Flores are on the USS Iwo Jima heading to New York where they were indicted.
		Maduro was initially indicted in 2020 in the southern district of New York with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.
		But it was not well known that his wife was also under indictment.
		So Attorney General Pambandi's post this morning is the first confirmation of that.
		Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, we posted on X a post that he made in July, echoing a line he's been repeating for weeks now that Maduro's regime is not the legitimate government.
unidentified		Rubio has been speaking with lawmakers all morning, working to appease perhaps some concerns and answer some questions.
		One of them coming from GOP Senator Mike Lee, who first questioned the administration's authorization for the actions absent Congress declaring war or authorizing military force.
		He now seems to be backing the president, saying that after speaking with Rubio, it appears that kinetic action was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant for Maduro and therefore falls under the president's constitutional authority to protect U.S. personnel from an attack.
		Democrats, though, as you can imagine, Brian, are a lot more critical.
		Still so many questions go after this action, including what happens now that Maduro is gone.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		What's going on?
		We are rocking on a Saturday morning.
		It is 11 a.m.
		Welcome back to being live after our Christmas and New Year's break.
		We just had to jump on in because President Trump will be explaining how he's just changed the world for the better, as far as I'm concerned, with the seizure, assault, and arrest of communist dictator Nicholas Maduro.
		This happened in the small hours of the evening last night with an assault on Caracas in Venezuela.
		President Trump will be live here momentarily.
		And of course, we will take all of his comments, something that was kept very, very close to the chest.
		Zero media leaks, zero leaks about this.
		An absolute stellar tactical execution by our men in uniform, special forces, Delta forces, seizing the communist dictator, leveling the Venezuelan military, leveling the Venezuelan Air Force, knocking out all air defenses.
		As far as we know, according to reports, there weren't even any shots fired on American troops.
		President Trump predicting exactly what was going to happen here by noting that you probably shouldn't F around with the United States of America.
unidentified		He has offered everything.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		He's offered everything.
		You're right.
		You know why?
		Because he doesn't want to fuck around with the United States.
		Thank everybody.
unidentified		Thank you, Ransom.
unidentified		Thank you.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Thank you, everybody.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		President Trump speaking at the White House just a few days ago, and JD Vance, obviously grinning from ear to ear.
		Marco Rubio, the same.
		Pete Hegset, the same.
		Nicholas Maduro's response to that.
unidentified		Don't worry.
		Be happy.
		Don't worry.
		No.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Happy These are these dirty communists So, Nicholas Maduro is a bad person.
		And I want to state this because the president could break in at any moment.
		I'm against war.
		I think that this is what you do to prevent war, to be quite honest with you.
		Here's why I am in favor of this military action against this communist dictator.
		Two or three or four or nine things.
		Let's just go from off the top.
		And Nicholas Maduro is an illegitimate dictator.
		He obviously lost multiple elections.
		In fact, the original elections that swamped and swapped communists into power, one of the more profitable and successful, clean, functional, middle-class, rich with natural resources countries on earth, Venezuela, which was a deeply functional democracy and society up until the communists took over.
		Ladies and gentlemen, these have all been illegitimate dictatorships led by Hugo Chavez.
		When they don't like the results, they change the results.
		They do this with election-rigging technology.
		These election-rigging technologies were piloted by Venezuela.
		They are now used to rig elections all throughout the world, including, but not limited to our country and Brazil, which also has an illegal dictator in it.
		Venezuela is very close to America.
		Venezuela's destabilization of its hundreds of millions of people that live there caused a massive human crisis.
		This is the kind of crisis that, of course, leads to millions of displaced individuals flooding our country.
		Many of those individuals are members of gangs.
		These are terrorist organizations, Trende Aragua, MS-13.
		Hugo Chavez sent them all to America to rape and pillage and kill.
		And this is exactly what happened with Lake and Riley, a Venezuelan migrant came here and killed Lake and Riley.
		You'll remember Lake and Riley bludgeoned in the head.
		She was a nursing student from Georgia, bludgeoned in the head and killed by a Venezuelan because of Hugo Chavez.
		So not a good guy.
		Not a good person.
		He also, of course, narco-traffics.
		He's a terrorist.
		He narco-traffics into our country hundreds of millions of pounds of fentanyl that kills and slaughters our people.
		Is he responsible for the death of millions of Americans?
		Probably, actually.
		And so not only is he responsible for the worst thing that's happened to America in my lifetime, which is the migrant crisis, he's also responsible for, obviously, the fentanyl deaths, the insane amount of narcotics that are in our country, poisoning the blood of our people.
		And then he's also responsible for the total and complete destabilization of South America on behalf of the communists.
		And so yes, I'm happy that Nicholas Maduro is in a bag over his head as he's being flown atop Caracas and shown something that I think is completely and totally glorious, which is the destruction of the mausoleum of Hugo Chavez.
		This is a very specific mountaintop that was destroyed.
		And this mountaintop holds the remains of the communist dictator, Hugo Chavez.
		This is the man who, when he died, Nicholas Maduro just seized power, just took power.
		And then has been using his nation, which is a nation very close to the United States of America, a nation that would have zero wealth or infrastructure if the United States of America hadn't built it up.
		American oil companies spent trillions of dollars refining and creating Venezuela's oil economy.
		And Venezuela has a larger oil reserve than Saudi Arabia.
		This is the largest known proven oil reserve in the world, is in Venezuela.
		The communists took over, seized it, and then ran that industry into the ground through total and complete incompetence.
		Ladies and gentlemen, this is how they destroyed their nation and obviously destroyed their own people.
		And so that is why the people are celebrating right now.
		I just want to note that before we get to the celebrations, that on their way out, the American forces not only took Hugo Chavez, but also took his wife.
		The absolute and total disrespect and rudeness of that is hilarious.
		And then they hung his head out of the helicopter window and forced him to watch them lob a couple heaters into the musoleum.
		They destroyed the body of Hugo Chavez on their way out, which is just a thing of beauty.
		So here we go, ladies and gentlemen.
		This is the breaking news from around the world.
		And we have live reaction pouring in from people in Venezuela.
		So let me make this very clear.
		And again, we're going to be hearing from President Trump here in just a moment as Donald Trump, as Donald Trump gets ready to address the world, as the world sits in shock witnessing this.
		Boys, why don't you grab the Claudia?
		I want the Claudia Scheinbaum commentary from Trump this morning and then her tweet about this.
		Because of course, everybody, like all the libs are freaking out about this, saying that they support Venezuela.
		But if you support Venezuela, you're going to support the Venezuelan people who love that this just happened.
		You know, you're not the ones eating zoo animals.
		What it really is, is it's low IQ communists realizing that they're losing their communist dictatorships all over the world, including, but not limited to multiple South American countries.
		South America is now swinging wildly, I guess you could say to the right, but really it's just for freedom and liberty parties.
		One of the last men standing is Brazil.
		You know, there's some like totally irrelevant South American countries, but Brazil.
		And the reason why this is critically important is because the communists and Iran, these are the people who were aligned with Venezuela, Iran, the Chinese communists, and Russia, Vladimir Putin, they hate this.
		They are using Venezuela as a proxy to attack us, to poison our people, to flood our borders, to engage in trafficking, human, narco, and otherwise.
	These evil forces were using Venezuela as a staging ground to attack America.
	This is exactly what they did.
	And now they're losing grip.
	They took over South America and now the communists are losing control.
	As you can see right here, this is the after years of socialism, South America now has a right-wing wave.
	So the blue is socialists and communist countries.
	This is what it looked like 20 years ago.
	And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what it looks like now.
	Actually, this wouldn't actually be an accurate map.
	I'm going to have to, let's try and get a slightly more accurate map because obviously Chile went to the right as well.
	Okay, so this is what Venezuela looks like as people are cheering and celebrating in the streets.
	This is a good thing for our country.
	In fact, Chinese communists were there on site.
	In fact, Chinese communists had just landed in Venezuela in order to prop up Maduro.
	So the Chikoms had their little government apparatchiks sitting there watching as the guy they were supposed to meet with gets put into a bag and thrown in the back of a Chinook.
	Isn't that dominance, ladies and gentlemen?
	Okay, so we've got celebrations throughout Venezuela.
	Again, don't listen to any of the dirty libs out there screaming and shrieking.
	Everybody's trying to like, everyone's throwing a panic right now.
	They're only panicking because they're losing their party, which is not the Democrat Party.
	It is global Marxism, is losing power.
	And this was one of their major plays to poison the American people and to destroy our land and our nation.
	Here you can see the Ayatollah getting his portrait lit on fire.
	Obviously, the people of Venezuela celebrating in the streets, dancing.
	This is a precious video.
	It's just a dude waking up his family in the middle of the night.
	He's so excited.
	He goes and wakes up his wife and tells her that the dictator is gone.
	So yeah, if you say you stand with Venezuela, then clearly you're standing with the Venezuelan people.
	People that are, people that are upset and libs that are bitching about Maduro are sitting there defending the indefensible, defending an illegitimate dictator, communist, who has destroyed and stolen from his people and who is effectively a narco-trafficker and terrorist.
	That's what they're defending.
	So, yeah.
unidentified		Look at this.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Venezuelans celebrating everywhere.
		This woman.
		I don't speak Spanish, but this elderly woman going viral for crying real tears.
		So, yeah, they're burning and ripping down Maduro posters here in Venezuela.
		And President Trump now warning Claudia Scheinbaum, who is the president of Mexico, for running also a narco-trafficking state, which she is doing.
		What's your message to Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum?
		She's not running Mexico.
		The cartels are running Mexico.
		Something's going to have to be done with Mexico, says Donald Trump.
		Way to go.
		I'm here for it.
		I want more communists and helicopters, to be perfectly honest with you, being taken in the dark of night and being brought to justice.
		I think it's just, I think this is just like the America that we've lost.
		This dude was live streaming the moment.
		This was live streaming the moment that the attack happened.
		This is what it looks like to be part of an empire that wants to control your hemisphere.
		You know, you can't be an actual power unless you control your own borders and the nations around you are not your enemies.
		You don't want the nations around you to be your enemies.
		You want the nations around you to be aligned with you.
		If you are the hegemonic power in your hemisphere, you need to be in control.
		By the way, for any of the Canadian fans that are watching the channel right now, shout out to you.
		What's up?
		Great to see you.
		But this is going to spell disaster for Canada.
		I just want to let you know.
		Canada has constantly refused to develop their oil industry, refused the Keys to an XL pipeline, canceled the Keys to an XL pipeline time, time and time again, refused to work with President Trump on making sure that our hemisphere has enough oil development and resources.
		And now, with what's going to be a very, very friendly administration in Venezuela to the United States of America, they're going to free up and probably reinstitute cooperation with Venezuela's oil resources.
		And America will have proxy power to the largest oil reserves in the world.
		You wonder why China wanted so badly to get its fangs into Venezuela.
		Well, this is why.
		Ladies and gentlemen, we do have a podium shot for President Trump.
		I guess we can just put, well, maybe we just pop that up for a second, show you guys that President Trump will be speaking here momentarily and talking to us about these world-changing events.
		This is the podium shot.
		Right now we have nothing further.
		This is from Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump.
		We await President Trump.
		His commentary was supposed to come at 11 a.m.
		You know, sorry for the wait, complicated business, as we say.
		President Trump, again, will be speaking and explaining all this.
		I assume that Secretary Rubio will be there along with Pete Hegseph and so on.
		Okay, so these are the joyous reactions.
		Some of the joyous reactions.
		Sorry, thank you, Alex.
		From some of the individuals, and this is a YouTuber in Venezuela.
		Again, don't let anybody tell you they're on the side of Venezuela.
		When they say this, what Nalib says this, they say that they're on the side of an illegitimate communist dictator.
		They just love communism.
		They love oppression of people.
		They love the destruction of freedom.
		They like people eating zoo animals.
		They like people not having toilet paper.
		They like human suffering.
		That's what they say they're on the side of.
		People of Venezuela sound like this.
unidentified		Okay.
unidentified		All right.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Calm down.
		Whatever.
		It's like good.
		It's good to see, honestly.
		And it's spiriting.
		I'm happy about this.
		I like this version of America.
		I don't want America to be pushed around by these dirty little narco-states.
		I don't want my country to be flooded with infinity criminal aliens because South America is so destabilized that millions of them have to come here.
		I don't want that to happen.
		I certainly don't want it to be used as biological weaponry and it's chemical weapons as well.
		This is why he's being charged with terrorism.
		Ladies and gentlemen, guys, give me the Pam Bondi tweet.
		Thank you.
		So we can talk through what the actual charges are.
		Here is Secretary Rubio.
		This is going viral.
		Rubio posting this today.
		Elon Musk saying true.
		Maduro is not the president of Venezuela and his regime is not a legitimate government.
		Maduro is the head of a cartel de la Soles, a narco-terror organization, which has taken possession of a country.
		He is under indictment and pushing drugs into the United States of America.
		Here we go.
		This is what he's being charged with in the southern district of New York, Pam Bondi, explaining what the charges are and what we may well see next.
		Oh, and there we go.
		There are the actual charges.
unidentified		Okay.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Let's get both.
		Yep, got it.
		Nicholas Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York.
		Nicholas Maduro has been charged with narco-terrorism, conspiracy, cocaine, importation, conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.
		They will soon face the full wrath of the American justice system on American soil and in American courts.
		On behalf of the entire DOJ, United States, I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American people.
		And a huge thank you to our brave military conducted the incredible, highly successful mission to capture these two narco and human traffickers.
		This is the post Going viral here, seen by 11 million people, 114,000 likes, 32,000 reposts.
		And this is exactly I'm in.
		I am in favor.
		I am in favor of there.
		We go.
		Thanks, guys.
		I am not a robot.
		And there's the indictment.
		There it is.
		Just went live.
		Just went live.
		This is what they're charging Maduro with.
		Guys, we have that Scheinbaum tweet because, like, it's the weakest.
		This is the weakest beer you've ever seen.
		So the president, so, so around the world, Iran is freaking out.
		China's freaking out.
		Mexico's freaking out.
		The axis of evil, the axis of globalism is freaking out right now because America is just acting like America again.
		Like you're not going to be pushed around.
		Listen, we're a hegemonic power in our own hemisphere.
		We are going to rule.
		We are going to be king.
		And if you want to challenge us, then fine, come for the king.
		This idea that like America had to cut our balls off, like that we had to be weak somehow after World War II, America decided that we just had so much success that we're just going to be weaklings and we're going to let the third world swamp us with criminal migrants.
		We're going to let our country, our systems be debased, our currency be debased.
		We're going to be pushed around by smaller little nations like Somalia at the United Nations.
		We're going to have like, we're going to have people like North Korea tell us what to do with the United Nations.
unidentified		F that.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Like, screw that.
		No.
		No.
		This is, this is not, this is not how you run a superpower.
		It doesn't work like that.
		That's not the law.
		Like, it is the law of the jungle.
		It has always been the law of the jungle.
		And you sometimes have to just simply exert force.
		You know, in the end, in the end, what's backing the U.S. dollar?
		What is it?
		Well, it's not gold anymore.
		It's not silver.
		It's this.
		It's if you sit there and seize the oil that we developed, if you destroy your country, if you poison our people, if you flood our borders and swamp our borders with criminals, then you're going to get yeeted, right?
		Like you're going to be picked up and you're going to be taken in a helicopter and you're going to be someone's going to want, you're going to make you watch.
		Hey, bud.
		How you doing?
		Sorry, I'm here at my home.
		Hey, Theo.
		Hey, buddy.
		All right.
		Well, we have somebody else joining the live stream right now.
unidentified		Bye.
		Bye.
		Hey, bud.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		You want to say hi to everyone?
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Say hi.
unidentified		I want to say hi.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		This is my son, Theo.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Hi, buddy.
unidentified		Okay.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Um, okay.
unidentified		Well, time to read an indictment.
unidentified		Why not?
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Son, you want to read your first indictment?
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		For over 25 years, leaders of Venezuela.
unidentified		Bye, Theo.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		We'll bring him back in for further analysis of President Trump's comments.
		And when I, what I assume to be momentarily.
		And anyway, for run a family business.
		This is a family business.
unidentified		What do you want?
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		This is the family business.
		This is the family part of the family business.
		For over 25 years, and it has been, gosh, it's been a wonderful break.
		Man, it's been amazing.
		Just like lock in with the kids, uh, built him a swing set, built him a tent, and had a wonderful, wonderful Christmas.
		Really did nothing, did nothing, just like locked in, just locked in with the kids and the family.
		That's it, just been dad, just been dadding.
		This is why this is our first live in two weeks, right?
		When was the last time that happened?
		We were two weeks without a live, crazy.
		Anyway, I hope that you had the same.
		You know, that's what that's that's what life is all about, frankly.
		And so, I hope it was the same for you for over 25 years.
		Uh, Venezuela has abused their position of public trust and corrupted once legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine in the United States.
		Nicolas Maduro, the defendant, and the foremost in that corruption, has partnered with his co-conspirators to use his illegally obtained authority and institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States.
		Since his early days in the Venezuelan government, Maduro has tarnished every public office he has held.
		And the member of Venezuela's National Assembly, Maduro moved loads of cocaine under the protection of Venezuelan law enforcement, Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, a prominent drug trafficker.
		So, here we go.
unidentified		Let's see, how long is this indictment?
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Okay, I'm sorry, it's 25 pages, so I'm not going to read all of this.
		But yeah, let's just say that Nicholas Maduro ain't getting out of this one.
		And what are you going to do?
		Like, seriously, what are you going to do about it?
		I don't care.
		Like, I just don't care.
		Everyone's screaming.
		All the libs sitting there screaming.
		Is that real?
		No way.
		Is this real?
		The actual photo?
		Is this the photo of Maduro?
		Is that for real?
		I've seen a lot of fake AI ones.
unidentified		Yeah, there you go.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		There he is.
		Captured.
		And they are losing it.
		What else do they have to say?
		Here's Claudia Scheinbaum of Mexico saying her response here to Donald Trump saying that something's got to be done about Mexico.
		Article 2, paragraph 4 of the Charter of the United States.
		The United Nations, sorry, states verbatim, the members of the organizations and their international relations shall refrain from the threat or use of force against territorial integrity of political independence of any state or in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.
		The position of the government of Mexico.
		No one cares, lady.
		You're next.
		No one cares.
		Stop poisoning our people.
		Like, this is this is these are the laws.
		This is the law of the jungle.
		This is, I'm sorry, we live in a real world here.
		Action, reaction.
		Mexico is a narco-state.
		Mexico is completely controlled by the cartels.
		Same with Venezuela.
		And we have like, we have no tolerance for that.
		We have a people here to save.
		Maybe you don't care about your people.
		Maybe you don't care about your country.
		We care about our country.
		And I know that's been a crazy change since World War II, when America just decided to roll over and be completely and totally cut by the rest of the world.
		That we should, we were so powerful, we just wanted to care what the rest of the world thinks.
		We care what, I don't know, what is a total Kirks, Turks and Caicos, right?
		Like we care about Bikini Fiasco or whatever.
		What is the smallest, most irrelevant country on earth?
		We don't actually, like, we don't.
		And that's just the position of being in charge.
		The lion cannot concern itself with the sheep and this whole like globalist world order.
		While it might have worked out for some people, it has been a nightmare for the United States of America.
		And now we have billions of dollars of Somali scams that is higher than the GDP of all of Somalia.
		So, no, I'm like, you can count me out.
		All right.
		This whole like mealy mount, the number one thing, the best, the best argument you got here.
		You're a known cartel operative.
		Claudia Scheinbaum is a known cartel operative.
		She works for the cartels.
		And the best thing you got is a line from the United Nations Charter.
		Please.
		Please.
		No, thank you.
		No.
		No, no, no.
		This is like enough of America being weak and enough of America being suckers.
		So again, ladies and gentlemen, we await President Trump, who will be live soon.
		This was supposed to be live at 11 a.m.
		Guys, what's the update here?
		Do we have anything from Donald Trump?
unidentified		Oh, wow.
unidentified		Okay.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Yeah.
		President Trump sharing a picture of Maduro.
		There it is.
		Nicholas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jimo.
unidentified		There we go.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		He's got some Nike.
		He's got some Nike sweatpants on.
		He's got a water bottle.
		He's got blinders on.
		He's got earmuffs.
		Looks very cozy.
		And Donald Trump just shared.
		So there you go.
		There you go.
		That's how you do it.
		So this, so yeah.
		Got nothing but weakness.
		The people again of Venezuela are cheering.
		I don't know why you guys keep, I don't know why ALX keeps sending.
		Here's ALX's tweet.
		There you go.
		ALX, please load up that I felt it needed to be done.
		Oh no.
		No, boy.
		The disrespect.
		The rudeness.
		The rudeness.
		So we please load up that clip from On the Ground in Venezuela that I sent right before the show, please.
		With the report.
unidentified		Wait, hold on.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Just a second, boys.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		I got it.
unidentified		There you go.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Got it.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		So yeah, I'm not going to suffer people saying that they're on the side of Venezuela when they are not on the side of the Venezuelan people, who, according to all available social media reports, are completely and totally thrilled about this result.
unidentified		Everyone here, American Venezuelan, have said they're so happy for the freedom that they experienced here, and they just hope that freedom translates into their home country, Venezuela.
		All we've heard was freedom, freedom, freedom.
		Yes, we did it.
		Now we can continue to move forward.
		By no means are any of them saying now comes the easy part.
		Certainly the hard parts are on the way, but they're saying now is finally a step in the right direction that they've all been waiting for for so long.
		I'm going to give you a little bit more of a scene center here, guys.
		Look, people with flags holding them up holding high.
		Hundreds of people here dancing.
		It really is wonderful to see so many people coming together.
		There are a lot of emotions behind this.
		I mean, they're not just cheering because of what just happened today.
		This comes from generations upon generations of stories of struggle, stories of hurt, stories also of hope for a better country and a better life for their family in Venezuela.
		Since I've been here, I've seen countless people FaceTiming their family members from Venezuela, checking off on them.
		Like we said, these strikes.
		We still don't know if there have been any casualties.
		We have had a lot of people here checking up on their family.
		Thankfully, all of the FaceTimes have been answered.
		A lot of things still, we still do not know.
		But overall, here, the sentiment is hope.
		Like we said, we've covered this in the past.
		A lot of times we've heard people cheer, C.
		And now they're seeing a scene saying, ooh, now we did it.
		Guys, you know, there's a lot of emotions, like we said.
		Like I've mentioned, though, there are a lot of people that are FaceTiming what's happening, trying to get in contact with their family, especially in Caracas.
		And overall, from the family that we did hear back from, they say that their families are okay.
		Obviously, still very much shaken with the strikes that happened early this morning.
		But overall, we have not heard yet of a report of a casualty or family members that are not answering them back.
		Actually, the opposite.
		We've heard several family members in Venezuela that are celebrating at home quietly, despite everything that's happening right now in their home country.
		So it is very interesting, but of course, this is still very much developing.
		We'll be hearing more stories throughout the morning.
		So of course, stay with us because we'll be here all day.
		Guys, thank you, Dad, for watching.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		This is one of the first English transmissions there from Venezuela.
		Obviously, this is a little bit choppy because of the live view, because of the technology that they're using.
		And, well, Venezuela has went from a first world country to a third world country under this dictatorship.
		And so, you know, so sorry about the choppiness there.
		There's nothing we can actually do.
		But here is what's going to happen, most likely.
		The woman who won the Nobel Peace Prize, Maria Corona Machado.
		Corina, correction there, Corina, Maria Corina Machado says that she is ready to take control of Venezuela.
		Now, she ran to be the president of Venezuela.
		She won, and then she had the election stolen by Nicolas Maduro, who changed the rules and just remained in power.
		And this is why Marco Rubio says he is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
		You can see here, after six days of brutal repression, thought they were going to silence us and intimidate us.
		Look at the response.
		You can see her here with 300,000 likes, 99,000 repost, 14,000 comments.
		Look at the people of Venezuela.
		Any lib, any the people of Venezuela love this.
		The only people who don't love this are very low testosterone, low IQ teenage communists who are terminally on TikTok.
		That's it.
		Those are the only people that don't like this.
		People of Venezuela love this.
		So she says that she is ready to lead and that this is going to be the year of freedom for our nation.
		And then she has released this letter.
		Venezuelans, the hour of freedom has arrived.
		There you go.
		Let's go ahead and read this letter from what may well be the next, may well be the next leader of Venezuela, unless it's Marco Rubio, which we could see.
		I mean, I, you know.
		At this point, why not?
		At this point, would you be surprised?
		Would you be surprised?
		Here we go.
		This is the letter here from the United States.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Armed Forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela.
		Overwhelming American 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.
		It was a force against a heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas to bring outlaw dictator Nicholas Maduro to justice.
		This was one of the most stunning, effective, and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history.
		And if you think about it, we've done some other good ones like the attack on Soleimani, the attack on al-Baghdadi, and the obliteration and decimation of the Iran nuclear sites just recently in an operation known as Midnight Hammer.
		All perfectly executed and done.
		No nation in the world could achieve what America achieved yesterday or, frankly, in just a short period of time.
		All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered perilous as the men and women of our military working with U.S. law enforcement successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night.
		It was dark.
		The lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have.
		It was dark and it was deadly.
		But captured along with his wife Celia Flores, both of whom now face American justice.
		Maduro and Flores have been indicted in the southern district of New York.
		It's Jay Clayton for their campaign of deadly narcoterrorism against the United States and its citizens.
		I want to thank the men and women of our military who achieved such an extraordinary success overnight with breathtaking speed, power, precision, and competence.
		You rarely see anything like it.
		You've seen some raids in this country that didn't go so well.
		They were an embarrassment.
		If you look back to Afghanistan or if you look back to the Jimmy Carter days, they were different days.
		We're a respected country again, like maybe like never before.
		These highly trained warriors operating in collaboration with U.S. law enforcement caught them in a very ready position.
		They were waiting for us.
		They knew we had many ships out in the sea, just sort of waiting.
		They knew we were coming.
		So they were in a ready, what's called a ready position.
		But they were completely overwhelmed and very quickly incapacitated.
		If you would have seen what I saw last night, you would have been very impressed.
		I'm not sure that you'll ever get to see it, but it was an incredible thing to see.
		Not a single American service member was killed, and not a single piece of American equipment was lost.
		We had many helicopters, many planes, many people involved in that fight.
		But think of that, not one piece of military equipment was lost, not one service member was more importantly killed.
		The United States military is the strongest and most fearsome military on the planet by far, with capabilities and skills our enemies can scarcely begin to imagine.
		We have the best equipment anywhere in the world.
		There's no equipment like what we have.
		And you see that even if you just look at the boats, you know, we've knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by sea.
		90%.
		Each boat kills 25%, on average, 25,000 people.
		We knocked out 97%.
		And those drugs mostly come from a place called Venezuela.
		We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.
		So 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 because that's what we're all about.
		We want peace, liberty, and justice for the great people of Venezuela.
		And that includes many from Venezuela that are now living in the United States and want to go back to their country.
		It's their homeland.
		We can't take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn't have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.
		We've had decades of that.
		We're not going to let that happen.
		We're there now.
		And what people don't understand, but they understand as I say this, we're there now, but we're going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place.
		So we're going to stay until such time as we're going to run it, essentially, until such time as a proper transition can take place.
		As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust, for a long period of time.
		They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could have been pumping and what could have taken place.
		We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.
		And 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 needed to do so.
		We actually assumed that a second wave would be necessary, but now it's probably not.
		The first wave, if you'd like to call it that, the first attack was so successful, we probably don't have to do a second, but we're prepared to do a second wave, a much bigger wave, actually.
		This was pinpoint, but we have a much bigger wave that probably won't have to do.
		This partnership of Venezuela with the United States of America, a country that everybody wants to be involved with because of what we are able to do and accomplish, will make the people of Venezuela rich, independent, and safe.
		And it will also make the many, many people from Venezuela that are living in the United States extremely happy.
		They suffered.
	They suffered.
	So much was taken from them.
	They're not going to suffer anymore.
	The illegitimate dictator Maduro was the kingpin of a vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States.
	As alleged in the indictment, he personally oversaw the vicious cartel known as Cartel de las Solas, which flooded our nation with lethal poison, responsible for the deaths of countless Americans, the many, many Americans, hundreds of thousands over the years of Americans died because of him.
	Maduro and his wife will soon face the full might of American justice and stand trial on American soil.
	Right now they're on a ship.
	They'll be heading to ultimately New York.
	And then a decision will be made, I assume, between New York and Miami or Florida.
	But we have people where the overwhelming evidence of their crimes will be presented in a court of law.
	And I've seen it.
	I've seen what we have.
	It's both horrible and breathtaking that something like this could have been allowed to take place.
	For many years after his term as president of Venezuela expired, Maduro remained in power and waged a ceaseless campaign of violence, terror, and subversion against the United States of America, threatening not only our people, but the stability of the entire region.
	And you all saw it.
	In addition to trafficking, gigantic amounts of illegal drugs that inflicted untold suffering and human destruction all over the country, all over in particular the United States.
	Maduro sent savage and murderous gangs, including the bloodthirsty prison gang, Trende Aragua, to terrorize American communities nationwide.
	And he did indeed.
	They were in Colorado.
	They took over apartment complexes.
	They cut the fingers off people if they called police.
	They were brutal, but they're not so brutal now.
	And I just have to congratulate our military, Pete, and everybody and our National Guard, because the job that they've done, whether it's in Washington, D.C., where we have a totally safe city, where it was one of the most unsafe cities anywhere in the world, frankly.
	And now we have no crime in Washington, D.C.
	We haven't had a killing.
	We had the terrorist attack a few weeks ago.
	A little bit of a different kind of a threat.
	But we haven't had a killing in a long period of time, six, seven months.
	We used to have two, on average, two a week in Washington, our capital.
	We don't have that anymore.
	The restaurants are opening.
	Everyone's happy.
	They're going.
	They're walking their daughters.
	They're walking their children, their wives.
	They walk to restaurants, restaurants are opening all over Washington, D.C.
	So I want to thank the National Guard.
	I want to thank our military.
	And I want to thank law enforcement.
	Been amazing.
	And they should do it with more cities.
	We're doing it, as you know, and we're doing it in Memphis, Tennessee right now, and crime is down.
	We've just sort of started a few weeks ago, but crime is down now 77%.
	And the governor of Louisiana called, great person, and he wanted us to help him, as you know, in a certain very nice part of Louisiana, and we have done that.
	It was a rough.
	rough section and we have crime down.
	I understand it's down to almost nothing already after two and a half weeks.
	New Orleans, it's down to almost nothing.
	And we've only been there for two and a half weeks.
	Can't imagine why governors wouldn't want us to help.
	We also helped, as you know, in Chicago.
	Then crime went down a little bit there.
	We did a very small help because we had no we had no working ability with the governor.
	The governor was a disaster and the mayor was a disaster, but it knocked down crime.
	But we're pulling out of there when they need us.
	We'll know.
	You'll know.
	You'll be writing about it.
	And likewise, Los Angeles, where we saved Los Angeles early on, where the head of the police department made a statement that if the federal government didn't come in, we would have lost Los Angeles.
	That's long after the fires.
	That's when they had the riots in Los Angeles.
	We did a great job.
	Got no credit for it whatsoever, but that's okay.
	It doesn't matter.
	We don't need the credit.
	But we'll be pulling out when they need us.
	They'll call, or we'll go back.
	If we have to, we'll go back.
	But we did a great job in various cities.
	But the thing, the place that we're very proud of is Washington, D.C., because it's our nation's capital.
	We took it from being a crime-ridden mess to being one of the safest cities in the country.
	But the gangs that they sent raped, tortured, and murdered American women and children, they were in all of the cities I mentioned, Trende Aragua.
	And they were sent by Maduro to terrorize our people.
	And now Maduro will never again be able to threaten an American citizen or anybody from Venezuela.
	There will no longer be threats.
	For years I've highlighted the stories of those innocent Americans whose lives were so heartlessly robbed by this Venezuelan terrorist organization.
	Really one of the worst.
	One of the worst, they say the worst.
	Americans like 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungari from Houston, beautiful Jocelyn.
	Nungari, what happened to her?
	They, as you know, they kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered by Trende Aragua animals.
	They murdered Jocelyn and left her dead under the bridge.
	It was a bridge, a bridge that will never be the same to so many people after seeing what happened.
	As I've said many times, the Maduro regime emptied out their prisons, sent their worst and most violent monsters into the United States to steal American lives.
	And they came from mental institutions and insane asylums.
	They came from prisons and jails.
	The reason I say both, they sound similar.
	Actually, prisons, a little bit more, a little bit more hostile, a little bit tougher.
	A mental institution isn't as tough as an insane asylum, but we got them both.
	They sent from their mental institutions.
	They sent from their jails, prisons.
	They were drug dealers.
	They were drug kingpins.
	They sent everybody bad into the United States.
	But no longer.
	And we have now a border where nobody gets through.
	In addition, Venezuela unilaterally seized and stole American oil, American assets, and American platforms, costing us billions and billions of dollars.
	They did this a while ago, but we never had a president that did anything about it.
	They took all of our property.
	It was our property.
	We built it.
	And we never had a president that decided to do anything about it.
	Instead, they fought wars that were 10,000 miles away.
	We built Venezuela oil industry with American talent, drive, and skill.
	And the socialist regime stole it from us during those previous administrations.
	And they stole it through force.
	This constituted one of the largest thefts of American property in the history of our country.
	Considered the largest theft of property in the history of our country.
	Massive oil infrastructure was taken like we were babies, so we didn't do anything about it.
	I would have done something about it.
	America will never allow foreign powers to rob our people or drive us back into and out of our own hemisphere.
	That's what they did.
	Furthermore, under the now deposed dictator Maduro, Venezuela was increasingly hosting foreign adversaries in our region and acquiring menacing offensive weapons that could threaten U.S. interests and lives.
	And they used those weapons last night.
	They used those weapons last night, potentially in league with the cartels operating along our border.
	All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy, dating back more than two centuries, and not anymore.
	All the way back, it dated to the Monroe doctrines.
	And the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we've superseded it by a lot, by a real lot.
	They now call it the Donro Document.
	I don't know.
	It's Monroe Doctrine.
	We sort of forgot about it.
	It was very important, but we forgot about it.
	We don't forget about it anymore.
	Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western hemisphere will never be questioned again.
	Won't happen.
	So just in concluding, for decades, other administrations have neglected or even contributed to these growing security threats in the Western Hemisphere.
	Under the Trump administration, we are reasserting American power in a very powerful way in our home region.
	And our home region is very different than it was just a short while ago.
	The future will be, and we did this in my first term.
	We had great dominance in my first term, and we have far greater dominance right now.
	Everyone's coming back to us.
	The future will be determined by the ability to protect commerce and territory and resources that are core to national security.
	These are core to our national security.
	Just like tariffs are they've made our country rich and they've made our national security strong, stronger than ever before.
	But these are the iron laws that have always determined global power.
	And we're going to keep it that way.
	We will secure our borders.
	We'll stop the terrorists.
	We will crash the cartels and we will defend our citizens against all threats, foreign and domestic.
	Other presidents may have lacked the courage or whatever to defend America, but I will never allow terrorists and criminals to operate with impunity against the United States.
	This extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.
	Very importantly, the embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect.
	The American armada remains poised in position, and the United States retains all military options until United States demands have been fully met and fully satisfied.
	All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand what happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them if they aren't just, fair, even to their people.
	The dictator and terrorist Maduro is finally gone, and Venezuela people are free.
	They're free again.
	It's been a long time for them, but they're free.
	America is a safer nation this morning.
	It's a prouder nation this morning because it didn't allow this horrible person and this country that was doing very bad things to us.
	It didn't allow it to happen.
	And the Western Hemisphere is right now a much safer place to be.
	So I want to thank everybody for being here.
	I want to thank General Raisin Kane.
	He's a fantastic man.
	I've worked with a lot of generals.
	I worked with some I didn't like.
	I worked with some I didn't respect.
	I worked with some they just weren't good.
	But this guy is fantastic.
	I watched last night one of the most precise attacks on sovereignty.
	I mean, it was an attack for justice.
	And I'm very proud of him.
	And I'm very proud of our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who I'm going to ask to say a few words.
	Thank you very much.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Oh, man.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		The Don Rowe doctor.
unidentified		Here we go.
pete hegseth ▲ ● ▼		I'm the commander-in-chief the world respects and the American people deserve.
		And as the President said, words can barely capture the bravery and the power and the precision of this historic operation.
		A massive joint military and law enforcement raid flawlessly executed by the greatest Americans our country has to offer.
		American warriors are second to none.
		The best in the world and the best of our country.
		What I, what all of us witnessed last night was sheer guts and grit, gallantry, and glory of the American warrior.
		I'm simply humbled by such man, such men.
		And I tip my hat to our chairman, Dan Raisin Kane, and all those Americans who stood watch last night.
		Our warriors are the elite of America.
		And again, President Trump has your back.
		No other country on planet Earth, and it's not even close, could pull this kind of operation off.
		And no other president has ever shown this kind of leadership, courage, and resolve, the most powerful combination the world has ever seen.
		As the president said, our adversaries remain on notice.
		America can project our will anywhere, anytime.
		The coordination, the stealth, the lethality, the precision, the very long arm of American justice, all on full display in the middle of the night.
		Nicholas Maduro had his chance, just like Iran had their chance, until they didn't and until he didn't.
		He effed around and he found out.
		President Trump is deadly serious about stopping the flow of demons and violence to our country.
		Deadly serious about stopping the flow of drugs and poison to our people.
		Deadly serious about getting back the oil that was stolen from us.
		And deadly serious about reestablishing American deterrence and dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
		This is about the safety, security, freedom, and prosperity of the American people.
		This is America first.
		This is peace through strength.
		And the United States War Department is proud to help deliver it.
		Welcome to 2026.
		And under President Trump, America is back.
		I'd like to welcome now our Chairman, Chairman Raisin Kane, to give a few more details about the operation, Mr. Chairman.
gen dan caine ▲ ● ▼		Thank you.
		Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
		Thank you, FAFOR.
		And good morning.
		Last night, on the order of the President of the United States and in support of a request from the Department of Justice, as the President said, the United States military conducted an apprehension mission in Caracas, Venezuela to bring to justice two indicted persons, Nicholas and Cecile Maduro.
		This operation, known as Operation Absolute Resolve, was discreet, precise, and conducted during the darkest hours of January 2nd and was the culmination of months of planning and rehearsal, an operation that, frankly, only the United States military could undertake.
		What I'd like to do this morning is talk to you through some of the preparation and the details without compromising any of our tactics, techniques, and procedures.
		There is always a chance that we'll be tasked to do this type of mission again.
		Our interagency work began months ago and built on decades of experience of integrating complex air, ground, space, and maritime operations.
		While the past two decades have honed the skills of our special operations forces, this particular mission required every component of our joint force with soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardians working in unison with our intelligence agency partners and law enforcement teammates in an unprecedented operation.
		We leveraged our unmatched intelligence capabilities and our years of experience in hunting terrorists.
		And we could not have done this mission without the incredible work by various intelligence agencies, including the CIA, NSA, and NGA.
		We watched, we waited, we prepared, we remained patient and professional.
		This mission was meticulously planned, drawing lessons from decades of missions over the last many years, decades of many missions over these last many years.
		This was an audacious operation that only the United States could do.
		It required the utmost precision and integration within our joint force.
		And the word integration does not explain the sheer complexity of such a mission.
		An extraction so precise it involved more than 150 aircraft launching across the Western Hemisphere in close coordination, all coming together in time and place to layer effects for a single purpose, to get an interdiction force into downtown Caracas while maintaining the element of tactical surprise.
		Failure of one component of this well-oiled machine would have endangered the entire mission, and failure is never an option for America's joint force.
		Those in the air over Caracas last night were willing to give their lives for those on the ground and in the helicopters.
		Let me talk a little bit about the preparation.
		After months of work by our intelligence teammates to find Maduro and understand how he moved, where he lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore, what were his pets, in early December, our force was set pending a series of aligned events.
		Key was choosing the right day to minimize the potential for civilian harm and maximize the element of surprise and minimize the harm to the indicted personnel.
		So as the President said, they could be brought to justice.
		And as the President said earlier today, 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.
		Last night, the weather broke just enough, clearing a path that only the most skilled aviators in the world could maneuver through.
		Ocean, mountain, low clouds, ceilings.
		But when tasked with a mission, this organization does not quit.
		At 10.46 p.m. Eastern Time last night, the President ordered the United States military to move forward with this mission.
		He said to us, and we appreciate it, Mr. President, good luck and Godspeed.
		And those words were transmitted to the entire joint force.
		Over the course of the night, aircraft began launching from 20 different bases on land and sea across the Western Hemisphere.
		In total, more than 150 aircraft, bombers, fighters, intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, rotary wing, were in the air last night.
		Thousands and thousands of hours of experience were airborne.
		Our youngest crew member was 20, and our oldest crew member was 49.
		And there's simply no match for American military might.
		As the night began, the helicopters took off with the extraction force, which included law enforcement officers, and began their flight into Venezuela at 100 feet above the water.
		As they approached Venezuelan shores, the United States began layering different effects provided by Spacecom, Cybercom, and other members of the interagency to create a pathway.
		Overhead, those forces were protected from aircraft or protected by aircraft from the United States Marines, the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, and the Air National Guard.
		The force included F-22s, F-35s, F-18s, EA-18s, E-2s, B-1 bombers, and other support aircraft, as well as numerous remotely piloted drones.
		As the force began to approach Caracas, the joint air component began dismantling and disabling the air defense systems in Venezuela, employing weapons to ensure the safe passage of the helicopters into the target area.
		The goal of our air component is, was, and always will be to protect the helicopters and the ground force and get them to the target and get them home.
		As the force crossed the last point of high terrain where they'd been hiding in the clutter, we assessed that we had maintained totally the element of surprise.
		As the helicopter force ingressed towards the objective at low level, we arrived at Maduro's compound at 1.01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time or 2.01 a.m. Caracas local time.
		And the apprehension force descended into Maduro's compound and moved with speed, precision, and discipline towards their objective and isolated the area to ensure the safety and security of the ground force while apprehending the indicted persons.
		On arrival into the target area, the helicopters came under fire, and they replied with that fire with overwhelming force and self-defense.
		One of our aircraft was hit but remained flyable.
		And as the President said earlier today, all of our aircraft came home, and that aircraft remained flyable during the rest of the mission.
		As the operation unfolded at the compound, our air and ground intelligence teams provided real-time updates to the ground force, ensuring those forces could safely navigate the complex environment without unnecessary risk.
		The force remained protected by overhead tactical aviation.
		Maduro and his wife, both indicted, gave up and were taken into custody by the Department of Justice, assisted by our incredible U.S. military with professionalism and precision, with no loss of U.S. life.
		After securing the indicted persons, the force began to prep for departure.
		Helicopters were called in to exfiltrate the extraction force, while fighter aircraft and remotely piloted aircraft provided overhead coverage and suppressive fire.
		There were multiple self-defense engagements as the force began to withdraw out of Venezuela.
		The force successfully exfiltrated and returned to their afloat launch bases, and the force was over the water at 3:29 a.m. Eastern Standard Time with indicted persons on board.
		And both Maduro and his wife were embarked aboard the USS Uojima.
		In closing, what we've witnessed today is a powerful demonstration of America's joint force.
		We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again, not to get it right, but to ensure that we cannot get it wrong.
		Our jobs are to integrate combat power so when the order comes, we can deliver overwhelming force at the time and the place of our choosing against any foe anywhere in the world.
		I am immensely proud today of our joint force and filled with gratitude to represent them here today.
		There is simply no mission too difficult for these incredible professionals and the families that stand by them and support them.
		As we stand here this morning, our forces remain in the region at a high state of readiness, prepared to project power, defend themselves, and our interests in the region.
		This operation is a testament to the dedication and unwavering commitment to justice and our resolve to hold accountable those who threaten peace and stability.
	In closing, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the brave men and women who executed this mission.
	Their courage and tireless commitment to our nation are what makes us strong.
	Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and thank you, Mr. President.
marco rubio ▲ ● ▼		Well, I don't have much to add to what you've heard now other than the following points.
		Nicolas Maduro was indicted in 2020 in the United States.
		He is not the legitimate president of Venezuela.
		That's not just us saying it.
		The first Trump administration, the Biden administration, the second Trump administration, none of those three recognized him.
		He's not recognized by the European Union in multiple countries around the world.
		He is a fugitive of American justice with a $50 million reward, which I guess we saved $50 million.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I want to make sure.
marco rubio ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, exactly.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Don't let anybody claim it.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Nobody deserves it but us.
marco rubio ▲ ● ▼		But I want to be clear about one thing.
		Nicolas Maduro had multiple opportunities to avoid this.
		He was provided multiple very, very, very generous offers and chose instead to act like a wild man, chose instead to play around.
		And the result is what we saw tonight.
		The other message here is the following.
		You have a guy, like many people around the world, they like to play games.
		You have a guy who decides he's going to invite Iran into his country, is going to do the confiscation of American oil companies, is going to flood our country with gang members, is going to take Americans prisoner and try to hold them for hostage and trade them like he was able to do with the Biden administration.
		Basically likes to play games all this time and thinks nothing's going to happen.
		And I hope what people now understand is we have a president.
		The 47th president of the United States is not a game player.
		When he tells you that he's going to do something, when he tells you he's going to address a problem, he means it.
		He actions it.
		I can tell you, I've watched this process now for 14, 15 years, been around it.
		Everybody talks.
		I'm going to do this.
		I'm going to do that.
		When I get there, we're going to do this.
		This is a president of action.
		Like, I don't understand yet how they haven't figured this out.
		And now, if you don't know, now you know.
		Because this is the way it takes.
		People need to understand that this is not a president that just talks and does letters and press conferences.
		And, you know, if he says he's serious about something, he means it.
		And this is something that was a direct threat to the national interest of the United States.
		And the president addressed it.
		There's a president of peace, by the way.
		I told you what I just said earlier.
		This guy had multiple opportunities to find his way somewhere else and figure out another.
		He could have been living somewhere else right now, very happy, but instead he wanted to play big boy.
		And so now, you know, he's got other sets of problems on his hands.
		And but I think that the message here should be for the world.
		Look, the president doesn't go out looking for people to pick fights with.
		He's not generally wants to get along with everybody.
		Well, talk and meet with anybody.
		But don't play games.
		Don't play games with this president's in office because it's not going to turn out well.
		And so I hope that, you know, I guess that lesson was learned last night and we hope it'll be instructive moving forward.
unidentified		Another message for Cuba, Mr. President?
		What do you think if you're not going to run Venus Waymarks?
		So who's in power right now?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, we're going to be running it with a group and we're going to make sure it's run properly.
		We're going to rebuild the oil infrastructure, which will cost billions of dollars.
		It'll be paid for by the oil companies directly.
		They will be reimbursed for what they're doing, but that's going to be paid.
		And we're going to get the oil flowing the way it should be.
		As you know, it was just a minor flow.
		It was actually a minor flow for what they have.
		But we're going to run it properly.
		We're going to make sure the people of Venezuela are taken care of.
		We're going to make sure the people that were forced out of Venezuela by this thug are also taken care of.
unidentified		Mr. President, does the U.S. running a country mean that U.S. troops will be on the ground?
unidentified		How will that work?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, you know, they always say boots on the ground.
		Oh, so we're not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to have.
		We had boots on the ground last night at a very high level, actually.
		We're not afraid of it.
		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.
		This is a very dangerous attack.
		This is an attack that could have gone very, very badly, could have gone very badly.
		We could have lost a lot of people last night.
		We could have lost a lot of dignity.
		We could have lost a lot of equipment.
		The equipment is less important, but we could have lost a lot.
		And we're going to make sure that this is proper.
		We're there now.
		We're ready to go again if we have to.
		We're going to run the country right.
		It's going to be run very judiciously, very fairly.
		It's going to make a lot of money.
		We're going to give money to the people.
		We're going to reimburse people that we're taking advantage of.
		We're going to take care of everybody.
		It's very important.
		We couldn't let them get away with it.
		You know, they stole our oil.
		We built that whole industry there.
		And they just took it over like we were nothing.
		And we had a president that decided not to do anything about it.
		So we did something about it.
		We're late, but we did something about it.
		Yeah, please.
unidentified		mechanism by which you're going to run the country.
unidentified		Are you going to designate a unique family?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Yes, yes, it's all being done right now.
		We're designating people.
		We're talking to people.
		We're designating various people, and we're going to let you know who those people are.
unidentified		Would run Venezuela.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, it's largely going to be for a period of time, the people that are standing right behind me.
		We're going to be running it.
		We're going to be bringing it back.
		It's a dead, you know, I talk about a dead country.
		A year and a half ago, we were a dead country.
		Now we're the hottest country anywhere in the world.
		We're a country doing better than any country anywhere in the world.
		And it required leadership.
		Venezuela has a lot of bad people in there, a lot of bad people that shouldn't be leading.
		We're not going to take a chance at one of those people take over for Maduro.
		So you can look at, and others, we have fantastic people, including people in the military.
		So we're going to have a group of people running it until such time as it can be put back on track, make a lot of money for the people, and give people a great way of life, and also reimbursement for people in our country that were forced out of Venezuela.
unidentified		You said earlier today that you weren't going to back Machado to come back and get opposition later in your Fox and Friends interview.
		And then you also mentioned the vice president of Venezuela.
		Are you going to work with the Vice President of Venezuela, or how do you foresee the relationship between the two?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I understand she was just sworn in, but she was, as you know, picked by Maduro.
		So Marco's working on that directly.
		He just had a conversation with her.
		And she's essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.
		Very simple.
julio rosas ▲ ● ▼		Mr. President, so Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a couple weeks ago, he said he's got to watch his ass.
julio rosas ▲ ● ▼		And today he said he's not concerned about anything happening to him in the aftermath of this operation.
unidentified		So just what are your messages?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, he has cocaine mills.
		He has factories where he makes cocaine.
		And yeah, I think I stick by my first statement.
		He's making cocaine.
		They're sending it into the United States.
		So he does have to watch his ass.
unidentified		Did you notify any members of Congress in advance?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Marco, do you want to talk about that?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Because you were involved in it.
unidentified		Sure.
marco rubio ▲ ● ▼		We call members of Congress immediately after.
		This was not the kind of mission that you can do congressional notification on.
		It was a trigger-based mission in which conditions had to be met night after night.
		We watched and monitored that for a number of days.
		So it's just simply not the kind of mission you can call people and say, hey, we may do this at some point in the next 15 days.
		But it's largely a law enforcement function.
		Remember, at the end of the day, at its core, this was an arrest of two indicted fugitives of American justice, and the Department of War supported the Department of Justice in that job.
		Now, there are broader policy implications here, but it's just not the kind of mission that you can pre-notify because it endangers the mission.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Plus, if I could add one thing to that, Congress has a tendency to leak.
		This would not be good.
		If they leaked, General, I think it would have been maybe a very different result.
		But I have to say, they knew we were coming at some point.
		A lot of ships out there.
		They sort of knew we were coming.
		But Congress, Congress will leak, and we don't want leakers.
unidentified		You were one of the only people to watch this all play out live.
		What was Maduro doing when the U.S. forces entered what I assume would be his home?
		And also, was there any point where the U.S. was considering if Maduro pushed back or resisted killing Maduro?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		It could have happened.
		It could have happened.
		He was trying to get into a safe place.
		You know, the safe place is all steel.
		And he wasn't able to make it to the door because our guys were so fast.
		They went through the opposition so fast.
		And there was a lot of opposition.
		You know, people were wondering, do we get him by surprise?
		Sort of surprise, but they were waiting for something.
		It was a lot of opposition.
		There was a lot of gunfire.
		You saw some of it today.
		But 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, 47 seconds, I say, regardless of how thick the steel was.
		It was a very thick door.
		It was 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.
unidentified		So what is his derivative international?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead, finish.
unidentified		Where is Maduro going to be in the time being right now?
unidentified		Do you know his exact?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, eventually, ultimately, in the near future, he's going to be brought to New York.
unidentified		And where is he going to be held in New York?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		That's going to be up to the officials that do these things.
unidentified		Mr. President, the U.S. has something of a mixed track record of ousting dictators without necessarily a plan for what comes afterwards.
unidentified		Not within that way on your discussion.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, that's why we had different presidents, but with me, that's not true.
		With me, we've had a perfect track record of winning.
		We win a lot.
		And we win.
		If you look at Soleimani, you look at Al-Baghdadi, you look at the Midnight Hammer.
		Midnight Hammer was incredible.
		Right now, you wouldn't have peace in the Middle East.
		Essentially, peace in the Middle East because of that.
		If we weren't successful with Midnight Hammer, you wouldn't have peace in the Middle East.
		So with me, you've had a lot of victory.
		You've had only victories.
		You've had no losses.
		Yes.
unidentified		How long do you expect the U.S. to run Venezuela, and how soon do you want Venezuelan people to hold elections?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		So I'd like to do it quickly, but it takes a period of time.
		We're rebuilding.
		We have to rebuild their whole infrastructure.
		The infrastructure is rotted.
		It's actually very dangerous.
		It's a blow-up territory.
		Oil is very dangerous.
		It's a very dangerous thing to take out of the ground.
		It can kill a lot of people.
		It has killed a lot of people doing just that.
		The infrastructure is old.
		It's rotted.
		Much of it is stuff that we put there 25 years ago.
		And we're going to be replacing it.
		And we're going to take a lot of money out so that we can take care of the country.
unidentified		Are you saying that, Secretary Rubio?
		Mr. President, China, Russia, and Iran have interests in Venezuela.
		How does this operation affect your relationships with them when Russia?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, Russia when we get things straightened out.
		But in terms of other countries that want oil, we're in the oil business.
		We're going to sell it to them.
		We're not going to say we're not going to get it.
		In other words, we'll be selling oil probably in much larger doses because they couldn't produce very much because their infrastructure was so bad.
		So we'll be selling large amounts of oil to other countries, many of whom are using it now.
		But I would say many more will come.
unidentified		Are you saying that, Mr. President?
		Are you saying, Mr. President, thank you.
		What is your message to the people of Venezuela today?
		Of course, the civilian population specifically, they have a lot of questions.
		What is your message to the people of Venezuela?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		You're going to have peace, justice.
		You're going to have some of the riches that you should have had for a long period of time.
		It was stolen from you.
		But you're going to have peace and you're going to have safety.
		You're going to have justice.
		You're going to have a country.
		You're going to have a real country.
		You're going to have potentially a great country.
		You know, if you go back 20 years, maybe even a little longer ago, that was a great country, and they destroyed it.
		Remember, I said that if we lose this election, the United States will be Venezuela-owned steroids.
		That's what would have happened.
		Had we lost the election, the 2024 election, we suffered so badly.
		When you look at the border from 2020, what they did, what Joe Biden administration did to our country should never be forgotten.
		But if we had to go through another year of that, we wouldn't have, we would be exactly where Venezuela was in terms.
		I used to say, if they win, we're going to be Venezuela on steroids.
		And that's what would happen.
unidentified		Thank you.
unidentified		Are you saying that Secretary Hegseth and Rubio are going to be running Venezuela?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		And will you be sending in U.S. military troops to provide that's working with the people of Venezuela to make sure that we have Venezuela right?
		Because for us to just leave, who's going to take over?
		I mean, there is nobody to take over.
		You have a vice president who's been appointed by Maduro.
		And right now she's the vice president.
		And she's, I guess, the president.
		She was sworn as president just a little while ago.
		She had a long conversation with Marco, and she said, we'll do whatever you need.
		I think she was quite gracious, but she really doesn't have a choice.
		We're going to have this done right.
		We're not going to just do this with Maduro, then leave like everybody else, leave and say, you know, let it go to hell.
		If we just left, it has zero chance of ever coming back.
		We'll run it properly.
		We'll run it professionally.
		We'll have the greatest oil companies in the world go in and invest billions and billions of dollars and take out money, use that money in Venezuela.
		And the biggest beneficiary are going to be the people of Venezuela.
		And also, I can't stress this strongly enough, the people that got thrown out of Venezuela that are now in the United States.
		And frankly, some want to stay and some probably want to go back.
unidentified		Is anything done to protect Americans in the country?
unidentified		And were any of the detained Americans?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, right now they're very protected because nobody's going to mess with us.
		They're very protected.
		And we let them know that you better not touch one of them.
unidentified		Are you concerned that bad elements of the Maduro regime will remain in place?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, we know who they are.
		We're on them.
		And they're acting much differently now than they would have acted two days ago.
		Okay, wait, behind you, please.
unidentified		Mr. President, why is running a country in South America, America first?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, I think it is because we want to surround ourselves with good neighbors.
		We want to surround ourselves with stability.
		We want to surround ourselves with energy.
		We have tremendous energy in that country.
		It's very important that we protect it.
		We need that for ourselves.
		We need that for the world.
		And we want to make sure we can protect it.
		Yes, sir.
		Please.
		Go ahead.
unidentified		Is there a message here for Cuba on Vietnam Canal?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, Cuba is an interesting case.
		Cuba is, you know, not doing very well right now.
		That system has not been a very good one for Cuba.
		The people there have suffered for many, many years.
		And I think Cuba is going to be something we'll end up talking about because Cuba is a failing nation right now, very badly failing nation.
		And we want to help the people.
		It's very similar in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba, but we want to also help the people that were forced out of Cuba and living in this country.
		Do you want to say something about that, Marco, please?
marco rubio ▲ ● ▼		Well, I mean, I just gave you a statement a few minutes ago about, you know, when the president speaks, you should take him seriously.
		So suffice it to say, you know, Cuba is a disaster.
		It's run by incompetent senile men and then in some cases, not senile, but incompetent nonetheless.
		It has no economy.
		It's in total collapse.
		And by the way, you know, they were, you know, all the guards that helped protect Maduro, this is well known, their whole spy agency, all that were full of Cubans.
		I mean, they basically, it's amazing.
		This poor island took over Venezuela in some cases.
		And one of the biggest problems that Venezuelans have is they have to declare independence from Cuba.
		They tried to basically colonize it from a security standpoint.
		So, yeah, look, if I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I'd be concerned at least a little bit.
		Well, the president already announced a week ago that anything that's sanctioned, it's sanctioned oil, it's not going to be allowed to get there.
		So that's a pre-existing issue.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		The answer is yes.
unidentified		Yes, no, we have it.
		Mr. President.
		Mr. President, on Monday.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader.
		She doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country.
		She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect within the country.
unidentified		Mr. President, is it possible that the U.S. ends up administrating Venezuela for years?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, you know, it won't cost us anything because the money coming out of the ground is very substantial, so it's not going to cost us anything.
		We will, well, we want safety there.
		We want to be surrounded by countries that aren't housing all of our enemies all over the world.
		That's what was happening.
		And you don't want to have that.
		But we're going to be rebuilding.
		And we're not spending money.
		The oil companies are going to go in.
		They're going to spend money.
		We're going to take back the oil that, frankly, we should have taken back a long time ago.
		A lot of money is coming out of the ground.
		We're going to get reimbursed for all of that.
		We're going to get reimbursed for everything that we spend.
		So it's going to be a very important.
		It's going to be a very important.
		This is a very big evening that took place last night.
		We have to be surrounded by safe, secure countries.
		And we also have to have energy, very important.
		We have to have energy that's real energy, not where they're getting 4% and 5% of the energy out of the ground.
		You take a look.
		It was such a disaster.
		So what's going to happen with Venezuela, I think, over the next period of a year is going to be a great thing.
		And the people of Venezuela will be the biggest beneficiaries.
unidentified		Wait a second, the U.S. military.
		What did you last speak to Maduro about when you spoke?
		And is the question?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, I don't want to get into the conversations, but I did have conversations with him, and I said, you got to surrender.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		And I actually thought he was pretty close to doing so, but now he wished he did.
unidentified		Mr. President, you said that Maduro is responsible for drug trafficking.
		You recently pardoned the former president of Honduras who was convicted of any drug trafficking.
		Can you explain how these two situations are working?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I endorsed, as you know, the winning president, the man who won in Honduras.
		I endorsed the man who won in Chile.
		I endorsed the man who won in Argentina.
		And we are doing very well with that whole group.
		What the man that I pardoned was, if you could equate it to us, he was treated like the Biden administration treated a man named Trump.
		That didn't work out too well for them.
		This was a man who was persecuted very unfairly.
		He was ahead of the country.
		He was persecuted very unfairly.
		And there are a number of them.
		And we felt that it was a very unfair situation that happened to him.
		He's also a party member of the man who won.
		So obviously the people liked what I did.
		And one of the reasons that was done is because of the fact that the party in power felt very strongly that that man was treated very badly.
		I studied it very quickly, and then I studied it in great detail.
		I went to a lot of the people standing behind me, and they felt that that man was persecuted and treated very badly.
		That's why I gave him a pardon.
unidentified		You referenced boots on the ground earlier.
		Can you just sort of button this up?
		Do you envision the U.S. military having a presence in Venezuela as the U.S. runs that?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, no, we're going to have a presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil because we have to have, we're sending our expertise in.
		So you may need something, not very much.
		But no, we're going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground.
		And that wealth is going to the people of Venezuela and people from outside of Venezuela that used to be in Venezuela.
		And it goes also to the United States of America in the form of reimbursement for the damages caused us by that country.
		So I want to thank you all very much.
		Thank you.
		Do you have one?
unidentified		Yes, please.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		You were so nice before.
		I'm going to give you the final question.
		Go ahead.
unidentified		Thank you, Mr. Carl.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Unless it's a bad question, in which case I'll go one word.
unidentified		It's about Putin, if you want.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		About Putin.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, that's always nice to talk about Putin.
unidentified		You had a phone call with him on Monday.
		Did he talk at all about Maduro?
		Did you all talk about this?
pete hegseth ▲ ● ▼		No, we didn't.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		We never spoke about Maduro.
unidentified		Are you mad at him right now?
unidentified		I mean, there's this.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I'm not thrilled with Putin.
		I'm not thrilled with Putin.
		He's killing too many people.
		I thought that would be so.
		I settled eight and one quarter war.
		You know what the one quarter was?
		Thailand and Cambodia.
		I did it again.
		They broke out, and I did it in about five hours, and I settled it.
		I'm giving myself one quarter.
		So I'm up to now eight and one quarter.
		In other words, I settled the war, but then they broke out.
		They had a pretty bad breakout over the last four days.
		I got them to go back to peace.
		So I only give one quarter.
		I thought the easiest one would be, one of the easier ones would be Russia-Ukraine.
		It's not.
		And they both have done some pretty bad things.
		And look, that's Biden's war.
		That's not my war.
		But I want to stop the lives.
		Did you see where last month, 30,000, this last, it was 27, 27,000 the month before.
		30,000, mostly soldiers, were killed this last month.
		30,000.
		I want to stop that.
		You know, I got NATO to pay 5% instead of the 2% that they weren't paying.
		They weren't paying 2%.
		Now they pay 5%.
		And we send them a lot of munitions.
		We send them a lot of things, missiles and various other things, a lot.
		And they pay.
		The United States is not losing money.
		We're probably making money on that.
		It's the last thing I care about.
		I just want to stop all those people.
		We're losing 25,000, 30,000 human beings that come from two places that are very far away.
		But if I can stop, because it's something I've been pretty good at doing, deals, I guess, it's all a deal.
		Life is a big deal.
		But if I can stop that war and stop 30,000 young people, in addition to the fact that people are being killed in Kiev, people are being killed in other cities throughout, you know, a much smaller number, but they're being killed, viciously killed.
		So I'm not happy about it.
		I thought that would be something that would get solved.
		We have Mr. Witkoff here.
		I think that we're making progress, but that's a war that should have never happened.
		If I were president, it would have never happened.
		Putin says it.
		Everybody says it.
		If I were president, that would have never happened.
		But I inherited that war.
		That was Joe Biden, Zelensky, and Putin.
		I came into the situation, and it's a mess.
		And I will say this: I watched an operation last night that was so precise, that was so brilliant.
		I mean, it was incredible.
		If we had our people, like this general and our people involved, that war, that war would not have gone on very long, that I can tell you.
		That war, to use an old term, that war has become a bloodbath, and we want it to get stopped.
		Thank you very much, everybody.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		All right, ladies and gentlemen, an absolute tour de force by President Trump, a 60-minute press conference there.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Donald Trump, the best to ever do it.
unidentified		A lot of FA, a lot of FO there.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		President Trump saying he's going to administer the state of Venezuela.
		So that's quite fascinating.
		And we'll see exactly what happens, but that America is just going to go ahead and take the oil and use that in order to fund the administration of the state of Venezuela.
		Pete Hegseth, Raisin Kane, and Marco Rubio all taking to the podium to laud the American military and to talk major smack to other world leaders and saying, If you don't think that Donald Trump is a man of his word, get ready, buckle up.
		FAFO said Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio saying this is your warning to places like Cuba and Colombia.
		Marco Rubio himself, actually a Cuban descent.
		And so people are celebrating.
		People are loving this.
		The only people that don't like it are terminally on TikTok, low testosterone, soy beta cucks, who are online teenage communists.
		They're the only people that don't like what just happened.
		Here's Donald Trump posting again the photo, the first photo of Nicholas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima on his way to face justice in New York.
		This was a complete banger.
		Let's just go through a little bit of the top line here to give you sort of the vibe check of the internet on these motions by the Trump administration that are world-changing.
		George W. Bush needed 170,000 troops and that led over 44,000 U.S. military casualties in eight years in order to capture Saddam Hussein.
		Donald Trump captured Nicholas Maduro while he was sleeping overnight with zero casualties.
		The single most impressive clandestine operation in American military history.
		That's without a doubt.
		This is the greatest special forces operation since World War II.
		For sure.
		Inarguable.
		Trump arriving at the United Nations.
		Trump says U.S. is going to run Venezuela indefinitely after sharing a photo of captured President Maduro in a track suit, saying that his wife will be charged to Maduro under guard.
		Trump, we will run Venezuela.
		Female Nobel Prize winner who's set to become Venezuela's new president.
		Maduro was captured.
		U.S. Army's Ultra League Delta Force captures Maduro and his wife in the dead of night.
		Donald Trump joking about how embarrassing it was.
		This is Nicolas Maduro's bunker defense against the attack by the United States.
		These are some of the Venezuelan defense forces here.
		You can see.
		Maybe this was the problem, actually, after all.
		Nicolas Maduro called up citizens to join the defense forces.
		And here were some of the citizens.
		I thought people were starving in Venezuela.
		Maybe I've been ill-informed here.
		They caught him sleeping, man.
		They caught him sleeping in a fortified bunker.
		Zero lost aircraft in the Venezuelan operation.
		It was planned days ago with no leaks.
		Planned four days ago.
unidentified		Oh, man.
unidentified		Look at this.
jacqui heinrich ▲ ● ▼		And after reaching no conclusion, there were plans underway about four days ago for this operation to get underway, but it was delayed for better weather.
jacqui heinrich ▲ ● ▼		And the president said that aside from some injuries to U.S. forces, which we are still awaiting details on, what that looks like, and who exactly was injured.
unidentified		This was considered a huge success.
jacqui heinrich ▲ ● ▼		There were no aircraft that were lost.
		And congressional leaders have been giving statements of support.
		They did indicate that they didn't get a heads up on it.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, of course, you didn't get a heads up.
		What are you going to tell Ilhan Omar about this?
		Trump on the capture of the narcoteros Maduro.
		We just turned the lights off in Caracas.
		We live in such a terrifying country.
		I mean, it's great.
		It's great to be an American.
unidentified		You need to be the world superpower.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		You need to control your hemisphere.
		This is an old JFK statement that I'm paraphrasing here that says we intend to be the master of our own hemisphere.
		You're not allowed to run communists in South America and try an F with the United States of America.
		Trump on the capture of Maduro.
		It was dark.
		The lights of Caracas were turned off due to a certain expertise that we have.
		It was dark and deadly, says Donald Trump.
		So they, what they did is they just shut off all the electricity, Caracas.
		You'll notice that John Ratcliffe, CIA director, was standing there with President Trump.
		And I think that explains everything.
		If we're keeping score, Democrats have defended the Ayatollah and Iran, radical Islamic Nigerian terrorists, homicidal black South Africans, a woman beater from El Salvador, Hamas Jihadis, thieving anti-American Somalis, and now Nicholas Maduro.
		Got it.
		Even on CNN, they're losing their minds.
		CNN experts are saying straight up, this is probably the best military exercise and operation that we've ever seen, an extraordinary operation.
		And this is terrifying the rest of the world.
		No other military would be able to pull this off.
michael smerconish ▲ ● ▼		Tell me how this news is being received in Iran.
		How's it being received in Russia?
		How's it being received in China?
admiral james stavridis ▲ ● ▼		All three predictably will deplore this kind of activity publicly, privately.
		They will be impressed with the military capability here.
		I would argue none of those three militaries could have executed an operation like this.
		And again, we just tend to just breeze by this, but the idea of finding, fixing, kidnapping, taking him out alive with his wife, no casualties on the side of the U.S., that's an extraordinary military operation.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		It's an extraordinary military operation.
		Let me give you a signal of things to come.
		And let me tell you something that I've probably never told this audience.
		I don't want to be really clear here.
		I have an impeccable source who has actually spoken with Nicholas Maduro.
		And in his conversations with Nicolas Maduro, he has told me that Maduro straight up admits to rigging the 2020 election.
		And that Maduro has copped to it and said, yes, of course, Venezuela deployed election software to rig the election.
		Believe this, that Nicholas Maduro, this isn't about having a machine gun or smuggling some drugs.
		They're going to make him sing like a canary.
		He is going to sing like a songbird.
		He's going to admit all the NGOs, all the left-wing billionaires.
		George Soros is probably like looking for a ticket to Mars right now for Elon Musk.
		Nicolas Maduro is going to admit to everything that they did to rig the election.
		That's what this is really about.
		Mark my words.
		That's what's actually happening.
		I have a buddy who is in the top level, let's just say the top level of these sorts of diplomatic circles and has direct access to Maduro and said, again, that Maduro admits to rigging the election, says that they do it all over the world.
		And this is what the American forces are going to get him to admit.
		And he's going to talk through the entire superstructure of left-wing NGOs, left-wing billionaires.
		He's going to give it all up in order to avoid, you know, firing squad, right?
		That's what's going to happen.
		Believe that.
		That's what's really going on here.
unidentified		Okay.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		So very quickly, Again, Venezuelans who had their families killed and everything taken from them are crying and weeping on camera.
		We love everybody because you, America, have loved us so much.
		Thank you, America.
		Mood.
		Venezuelans are on their rooftops waving their flags.
		They're ripping down as the statues of Hugo Chavez and Maduro.
		I think that's a Hugo Chavez statue.
		There it is.
		See you later.
		We send our Somalians to Venezuela.
		I got a proposition for you.
		We send the Somalis to Venezuela.
		Just a thought.
		The difference that an administration makes.
		Here's just in 2022, here's John Kerry meeting Nicolas Maduro in order to talk about climate change.
		Wow.
		How special for all of us.
		Here's Joe Biden saying Trump talks tough on Venezuela, but admires thugs like Nicolas Maduro.
		As president, I will save him with Venezuela and democracy.
		Oh, I wonder, like, how that aged, Joe Biden.
		Do we have an update on that, Joe Biden?
		Anybody?
		President Trump posting Fortunate Sun videos.
		So real, this is real Donald Trump posting the helicopters going through the sky.
		You can see Maduro's on one of these as they bomb.
unidentified		Yep.
benny johnson ▲ ● ▼		It's an amazing timeline that we live in.
		There is no war.
		The people of Venezuela are celebrating.
		So ask yourself, why do the people who have nothing to do with Venezuela seem so upset about an illegitimate criminal dictator being brought to justice?
		It's a great question.
		And just one final thing to leave you on your injection of optimism for the day.
		We try and do that on this program.
		Check it out.
		The blue would be considered, so flip, flip, left is red, right is blue.
		Okay.
		So left is red, right is blue.
		So the blue nations are the only nations that could be considered center right.
		This is in 2023.
		Three short years later, this is what our hemisphere looks like.
		And then you could sort of delete that one right there.
		That's Venezuela.
		You could sort of delete that from the map.
		So now you are looking at a center right takeover, a freedom movement taking over our hemisphere.
		We will be the masters of our hemisphere.
		And remember, Democrats are really upset about arresting a president unless it's Donald Trump.
		Okay, so Jesus.
		Sit this one out, right?
		Sit it out.
		We're going to go and remake the world for the better.
		And there's nothing that you can do to stop us.
		This is a, I would argue this is providential, quite frankly.
		Our president survived an assassin's bullet.
		And I think that Donald Trump has been put in office for this exact time.
		I know this.
		It's Christian doctrine, actually, in Romans.
		They talk about how God institutes the governments of the earth.
		And we have a Christian country.
		We have a moral and Christian nation just barely hanging on.
		And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you begin to turn the tide.
		One black bagged dictator at a time.
		In closing, maybe Trump should just kidnap like a communist dictator once every couple months, just to keep everyone on their toes and have everybody guessing.
		Can we have a polymarket on that?
		Like Trump could just snatch up a communist dictator every couple of, you know, every couple months.
		You know, who are we going to have next?
		Right?
		Ladies and gentlemen, it's your boy Benny.
		Thank you for joining us for this historic moment.
		Excited to be back.
		We'll be back live this week.
		And remember, we will win in the end.
		We win.
		In the end, we win.
		Keep marching.
		Keep fighting.

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