President Donald Trump, joined by members of his Cabinet and senior advisers, monitored his unauthorized invasion of Venezuela not from Washington D.C., but from a makeshift situation room at Mar-a-Lago.
While the Palm Beach setting was already unusual enough, eagle-eyed social media users were quick to notice an interesting detail in the background of several photos the president posted to Truth Social depicting himself, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller, and others in the president’s inner circle: an X feed.
Two of the photos show senior Trump officials gathered in front of a screen with an X search open for “Venezuela.” A third photo shows Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan “Raizin” Caine huddled around a laptop with an X profile visible on the screen behind them.
Trump announced the strike against Venezuela and abduction of President Nicolás Maduro on Truth Social early on Saturday morning, writing, “The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country.”
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were then transported to the U.S. in order to stand trial in New York. Maduro is facing charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy, and weapons offenses. Flores and the couple’s 35-year-old son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, are also facing charges.
While the Trump administration was quick to insist no Americans were killed during the incursion, Venezuelan officials have said that at least 40 Venezuelans were killed.
Trump also implied during a Saturday morning interview with Fox News that some U.S. service members had been injured. Caine clarified later in the day that one of the helicopters being used to transport Maduro and Flores had come under fire and been hit, but that it “remained flyable” and all aircraft successfully returned to the U.S.
While Venezuela’s long-term future is unclear, Trump has said that the U.S. will run the country “until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.”
He also revealed plans to seize Venezuela’s oil reserves and work with American oil companies to “fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”
The president has also suggested that Venezuela would not be his last unauthorized foreign intervention, alternately suggesting on Saturday that Mexico, Colombia, or Cuba could be next.
“Something’s going to have to be done with Mexico,” he said during an interview on Fox & Friends. During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago later that morning, Trump also said that Colombian president Gustavo Petro should “watch his a--.”
At the same press conference, Rubio issued a veiled threat to the Cuban government, telling reporters, “If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned at least a little bit.”
The Daily Beast reached out to the White House for comment.
