Donald Trump phoned his favorite cable news show to brag that U.S. troops were only injured in the overnight attack that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
In an extraordinary interview with Fox & Friends, the president revealed how the American military had carried out a large-scale strike in the oil-rich Latin American country, which he watched from Mar-a-Lago “like I was watching a television show.”
But while no American troops were killed in the mission, Trump admitted that some were in fact “hit” and a U.S. helicopter was struck.
“To have a few injuries, but no death on our side, is really amazing,” he said.
“I think we had nobody killed, I have to say, because a couple of guys were hit,” he added.
“But they came back, and they’re supposed to be in pretty good shape. But we had nobody killed, we lost no aircraft. You know, everything came back, we got it all back. One of them was hit pretty hard—a helicopter—but we got it back.”
The strikes took place overnight in the capital of Caracas, in what was the first US military intervention since the invasion of Panama in 1989.
Ahead of the mission, Trump had accused Maduro of running a “narco-state” and rigging the 2024 election.
But experts have long believed that escalating pressure from the U.S comes down to one thing: Washington wants to grab oil reserves.
The U.S. has been ramping up the pressure on the country for months, assembling a massive military presence in the Caribbean, intercepting two Venezuelan oil tankers and killing dozens of people in lethal strikes on alleged drug boats.
However, the operation is already proving contentious for Trump, who did not seek Congressional authorization to conduct the mission.
This comes despite his own chief of staff, Susie Wiles, acknowledging to Vanity Fair last month: “If he were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then [we’d need] Congress.’”
Former Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene questioned the administration’s motives, saying that military aggression in foreign wars is what “MAGA thought they voted to end.”
“If U.S. military action and regime change in Venezuela was really about saving American lives from deadly drugs then why hasn’t the Trump admin taken action against Mexican cartels?“ said the GOP firebrand.
“And if prosecuting narco terrorists is a high priority then why did President Trump pardon the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted and sentenced for 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into America?”
Democrat Representative Jim McGovern also weighed in, writing on X: “Without authorization from Congress, and with the vast majority of Americans opposed to military action, Trump just launched an unjustified, illegal strike on Venezuela.”
“He says we don’t have enough money for healthcare for Americans—but somehow we have unlimited funds for war??” he added.
But speaking to Fox & Friends, Trump dismissed the concerns as he celebrated the mission’s success.
“All they do is complain,” he said of Democrats. “They should say we did a ‘great job’ - we’re stopping drugs from coming into this country. They should say ‘great job’. They shouldn’t say, ‘Oh gee, maybe it’s not constitutional’.”
Trump said the capture of Maduro was meant to happen four days ago, “but the weather was not perfect.”
“The weather has to be perfect,” he said.
“We had, you know, very good, a little bit, a little bit few more clouds than we thought, but it was good,” he added.
“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.”
He also said the military had also been ready for a second wave of strikes, but the first wave “was so lethal, this was so powerful that we didn’t have to—but we were prepared.”
“If you would have seen the speed, the violence,” Trump added. “It was an amazing thing, an amazing job that these people did.”
Maduro was taken into U.S. custody with his wife, Cilia Flores, just hours after reports of multiple explosions ringing out across Caracas surfaced overnight on Saturday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the pair will face charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices, among other charges.
Asked about the future of Venezuela’s oil industry, Trump replied: “Well, I see that we’re gonna be very strongly involved in it. That’s all. What can I say? We have the greatest oil companies in the world.”
Republican Thomas Massie wrote on X: “If this action were constitutionally sound, the Attorney General wouldn’t be tweeting that they’ve arrested the President of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 U.S. firearm law.”
