President Donald Trump claimed early Saturday that the U.S. had spirited Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro out of the country and taken him into custody, marking a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s regime change efforts.

Hours after airstrikes lit up the night sky across the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Trump claimed credit for the attacks and said that Maduro had been taken into U.S. custody.

“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.”

Maduro and his wife are currently being held on the USS Iwo Jima, one of the U.S. warships that has been deployed to the Caribbean, a defense official who was not authorized to speak publicly told The Intercept. They are being transported to New York to face charges.

The U.S. has not made such a direct intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose military leader Manuel Noriega.

Asked what the future held for the Venezuelan people on Saturday morning, Trump said the U.S. would decide its fate. “We’re making that decision now. We can’t take a chance on letting somebody else run it,” Trump said on Fox News. “So we’re making that decision now. We’ll be involved in it very much.”

“We can’t take a chance on letting somebody else run it. So we’re making that decision. We’ll be involved in it very much.”

“We want to do liberty for the people,” he added.

The administration’s communications about its plans in Venezuela have been inconsistent. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote on X that Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he “anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody.”

The White House did not respond to questions concerning its potential role in the installation of new leadership in Venezuela. Trump is set to address the public from Mar-a-Lago at 11 a.m.

María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s right-wing opposition leader, celebrated Maduro’s capture in a statement posted on X. “The time has come for popular sovereignty and national sovereignty to rule our country,” wrote Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year. She urged for the immediate installation of Edmundo González Urrutia, Maduro’s main competitor in the last Venezuelan presidential election, as the country’s commander-in-chief.

According to CBS News, the operation to capture the 63-year-old Maduro was carried out by Delta Force, the elite unit of the U.S. Army special operations. According to Sky News, sources within the Venezuelan opposition described the capture as a “negotiated exit.”

U.S. Special Operations Command referred questions about Delta Force involvement in the operation to the White House. The White House press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Trump finally broke his silence about the attacks just before 4:30 a.m. with his post to Truth Social. Senior administration officials, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, immediately shared the post.

In a telephone interview with a Colombian news station, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez appeared to confirm the capture when she demanded that the U.S. provide proof of life of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro.

The Trump administration’s abduction of Maduro is an extension of long-running efforts to topple the Venezuelan president.

The Venezuelan government said in a statement that attacks struck the states of Aragua, Miranda, and La Guaira, in addition to Caracas, framing the strikes as part of a broader, nationwide assault.

“The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack,” the statement read. “Venezuela reserves the right to exercise legitimate defense to protect its people, its territory, and its independence.”

The Trump administration’s abduction of Maduro is an........

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