'We are going to run the country': Trump addresses after Nicolas Maduro capture, Venezuela strike - top quotes

US president Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States would assume control of Venezuela in the immediate aftermath of the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “We don’t want to be involved with having someone 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.” He did not provide a timetable for the transition.Trump praised the US military for its “breathtaking speed, power, precision and competence”, describing the troops as “highly trained warriors” operating alongside U.S. law enforcement. He said Venezuelan forces were “waiting for us” and in a “ready position”, but were “completely overwhelmed and very quickly incapacitated”.

He added that no U.S. personnel were killed and no equipment lost.Trump also claimed the US has “knocked out 97% of drugs coming in by sea”, alleging each drug boat kills 25,000 people on average.He said the capture of Maduro took place under cover of darkness. “No nation in the world could achieve what America achieved yesterday,” Trump said, adding that “the lights of Caracas were largely turned off”. “It was dark and it was deadly,” he said.

Earlier today, the Trump announced that the US had captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a military operation early on Saturday, following weeks of escalating pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration. Speaking on Fox News, President Donald Trump said the US would play a central role in shaping Venezuela’s future. “We'll be involved in it very much,” he said, adding: “We can’t take a chance in letting somebody else run and just take over what he left.”Trump described the raid in detail during an interview on “Fox and Friends Weekend”, saying Maduro had been “highly guarded” inside a presidential palace “like a fortress”. US forces, he said, were prepared to breach steel-reinforced rooms using “massive blowtorches” and had rehearsed the operation on a full-scale replica of the building. “He didn’t get that space closed,” Trump said. “We were prepared.”The operation took place under cover of darkness, with Trump claiming the US turned off “almost all of the lights in Caracas”. At least seven explosions were heard, and the assault lasted less than 30 minutes. Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, said civilians and members of the military were killed, though she did not give figures. Trump said only “a couple of guys were hit” on the US side.The White House said weather conditions had delayed the raid for several days. The Justice Department has since released an indictment accusing Maduro and Flores of involvement in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.