WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of growing military pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, US President Donald Trump ordered a brazen operation into the South American country to capture its leader and whisk him to the United States, where his administration planned to put him on trial.

In a Saturday morning interview on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Trump laid out the details of the overnight strike, after which he said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown by helicopter to a US warship. Later Saturday, Trump and other officials gave more details during a news conference from his Florida residence.

Trump described Maduro as being “highly guarded” in a presidential palace that was “like a fortress.” Maduro had nearly made it to a safe room inside it, Trump told reporters, although “he was unable to close it.”

American forces were armed with “massive blowtorches,” which they would have used to cut through steel walls had Maduro locked himself in the room, Trump said.

“It had what they call a safety space, where it’s solid steel all around,” Trump said. “He didn’t get that space closed. He was trying to get into it, but he got bum-rushed right so fast that he didn’t get into that. We were prepared.”

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said US forces had rehearsed their maneuvers for months, learning everything about Maduro — where he was and what he ate, as well as details of his pets and the clothes he wore.

“We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again, and again,” Caine said, saying his forces were “set” by early December. “Not to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong.”

Earlier, Trump said........

© The Times of Israel