House Oversight and Government Reform Committee member Lauren Boebert. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Just two months ago, there was a “revolt” in Congress over the Trump administration’s efforts to bury the Epstein files. Once it became clear that a few House Republicans would support a discharge petition requiring the files’ release, Donald Trump himself flipped on the issue and ordered GOP lawmakers to do the same. Nearly all congressional Republicans voted for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which gave the Department of Justice 30 days to release all of the materials (with redactions of materials that might harm Epstein’s victims). Some observers thought it might be the beginning of the end of Trump’s iron grip on the Republican Party or even over his own MAGA movement, where the Epstein files have long been the object of powerful conspiracy theories.
That 30-day deadline has now come and gone, and only a small fraction of the Epstein files have seen the light of day. Indeed, as the Guardianreports, the slow-walking from Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice seems downright defiant:
Justice department attorneys said in a 5 January Manhattan court filing that they had posted approximately 12,285 to DoJ’s website, equating to some 125,575 pages, under this legislation’s requirements. They said in this same letter that justice department staff had identified “more than 2 million documents potentially responsive to the Act that are in various phases of review”.
That these DoJ’s disclosures apparently comprise a drop in the bucket – and have done little to shed light on how Epstein operated with apparent impunity for years – has roiled survivors’ advocates and lawmakers.
The original House co-sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Democrat Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie, are so furious about the administration’s noncompliance that they have petitioned federal district court judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York to intervene and force an independent audit of the files and their release, arguing that the “DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act.”
Meanwhile, most of Massie’s congressional Republican colleagues seem to be moving along to other matters having made their one gesture the passage of the law Team Trump is now refusing to implement. As Politico reports, the widespread indifference is typified by Colorado representative Lauren Boebert, one of the handful of House Republicans who joined Khanna and Massie and forced the issue to the House floor via a rare discharge petition:
“I don’t give a rip about Epstein,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said last week when she was asked to take stock of the month since the Dec. 19 deadline.
“Like, there’s so many other things we need to be working on,” she added. “I’ve done what I had to do for Epstein. Talk to somebody else about that. It’s no longer in my hands.”
Even those Republicans who do “give a rip” about the Epstein files seem more interested in selectively than completely releasing them:
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who has worked with Democrats on a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigation into the Epstein case, said in a recent interview she’s now more more focused on holding Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for not honoring the panel’s subpoena to testify about Epstein.
Many of the photos released by the DOJ so far feature the former president consorting with Epstein, and the administration has sought to portray Bill Clinton as the real pariah, not Trump.
This is entirely contrary to the law that Representative Anna Paulina Luna and 215 other House Republicans voted to impose on the DOJ in an atmosphere of great self-righteousness. Luna told Politico the original deadline for release of the files wasn’t “realistic,” which does make you wonder why she voted for it just two months ago. Once viewed as a demonstration of the legislative branch’s last-ditch willingness to show just a little bit of independence from Team Trump, the Epstein files saga is now showing that only the judicial branch and perhaps midterm voters can exercise effective oversight of this lawless administration.
Organizers say the day’s aim is to “call for an immediate end to ICE operations” in the state.
“As leaders in their community, clergy are bearing witness to the constitutional and human rights violations happening on a daily basis in our state and communities as a result of DHS operations,” wrote a spokesperson with the St. Paul-based nonprofit Isaiah.
The Day of Truth and Freedom will also include a march and rally in downtown Minneapolis on Friday, starting at 2 p.m.
Several Twin Cities businesses and co-ops will also close Friday in solidarity, and organizers say several unions are also on board, including the St. Paul Federation of Educators, the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, Unite Here Local 17, SEIU Local 26, and the transit union ATU.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
NOTE: The original airdate of the video attached to this article is Jan. 13, 2026.
Many of the documents and photos from the Epstein files, such as this one depicting Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Ghislaine Maxwell, feature significant redactions.
Department of Justice
“This is a time-intensive process due to the voluminous materials, the idiosyncratic nature of many of the materials, and the need to protect victim-identifying information,” Bondi writes. “The Department will continue to apprise the Court of its progress in this regard,” she continues, but does not provide a timeline.
Frustrating, yes, but a situation Americans might have to accept. Though Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massieasked to Engelmayer to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the file release, as they suspect “serious misconduct by the Department of Justice,” the judge’s hands appear to be tied at the moment. According to a letter sent to Engelmayer Friday by US Attorney Jay Clayton, the judge “lacks the authority” to appoint that neutral party, the Associated Press reports, as Khanna and Massie lack standing with the court that would allow them to make that demand.
Via statement, Khanna says that Clayton misunderstood their request, which was denied as neither Khanna nor Massie were involved in the criminal case against Maxwell, which resulted in the Epstein investigation’s sole conviction. “We are informing the Court of serious misconduct by the Department of Justice that requires a remedy, one we believe this Court has the authority to provide, and which victims themselves have requested,” Khanna says. “Our purpose is to ensure that DOJ complies with its representations to the Court and with its legal obligations under our law.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during the 2026 Israeli-American Council (IAC) National Summit at the Diplomat Beach Resort Hollywood on Friday January 16, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Mike Stocker
South Florida Sun Sentinel
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz spoke about their commitments to the Jewish community and their respective parties’ plans to combat antisemitism and strengthen ties with Israel at an Israeli-American summit attended by thousands on Friday afternoon.
Speaking in front of a packed ballroom at a Hollywood beach resort, Bondi touted the Trump administration’s crackdown on antisemitic and anti-Israel acts, while Wasserman Schultz reassured attendees that the Democratic Party remains largely pro-Israel despite some far-left dissenters.
The Florida-bred elected officials spoke at the Israeli-American Council National Summit, touted as the largest pro-Israel Jewish conference of the year, during a segment about “Inspirational Role Models.” They were followed by a variety of speakers, including Israeli ambassadors, a former Hamas hostage, Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner and TV personality Siggy Flicker.
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during the 2026 Israeli-American Council (IAC) National Summit at the Diplomat Beach Resort Hollywood on Friday January 16, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel) Mike Stocker South Florida Sun Sentinel
Bondi began her address by recounting the night two Israeli Embassy staff members were gunned down near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., last year.
Bondi, who is a former prosecutor and Attorney General of Florida, told the audience that her office is seeking the death penalty against the gunman, Elias Rodriguez.
“Sarah and Yaron were shot, murdered because they were Jewish,” Bondi said. “It was horrible. Horrible. We will not tolerate that in our country any longer.”
Bondi said that antisemitism has gone “unchecked” in the United States for too long, citing examples of antisemitic hate crimes like the recent arson attack at a historic synagogue in Mississippi.
“Too many Jewish Americans have been forced to live in fear. Under President Trump’s leadership, this Department of Justice is dedicated to reversing this unacceptable trend,” she said.
Bondi pointed to the Justice Department’s million-dollar settlements against public universities over anti-Israel protests on campuses and Trump’s role in helping return the hostages of the October 7 Hamas attacks against Israel as examples of the administration’s commitment to combatting antisemitism.
She said the rising levels of anti-Jewish hate in America are a result of the “inaction” of institutions and leaders who have chosen to “look the other way.”
To close out her speech, Bondi told a story about how she personally helped get a student expelled from Florida State University for allegedly verbally attacking another student wearing an Israeli Defense Forces shirt on campus.
“It’s not a crime of great violence, but in my opinion, it’s a crime of great significance,” she said.
Later in the summit, as Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Weston, took the stage, her presence was met with a mixture of cheers and boos from the audience.
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz speaks during the 2026 Israeli-American Council (IAC) National Summit. Mike Stocker South Florida Sun Sentinel
“I am Florida’s first Jewish Congresswoman,” she said, adding that the first bill that she passed 21 years ago created the National Jewish American Heritage month. “I am a Zionist. I am a proud Jewish mother and I represent a significant Jewish community as well as an Israeli-American community proudly.”
The moderator, Aviva Klompas, pointed out that many in the room may be concerned about the Democratic Party’s support for Israel amid the party’s internal division over issues like the war in Gaza.
“It is my job today and going forward to help reassure people who have angst about the Democratic Party.. that the Congress of the United States remains an overwhelmingly pro-Israel governmental institution,” she said.
Wasserman Schultz mentioned that even amid the election of pro-Palestinian champions like New York City’s newly elected mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party has also continued to elect many pro-Israel candidates, like Mark Levine, who was elected Comptroller of New York City, and the New York City Council’s first Jewish speaker, Julie Menin.
“We have a core group of organized members that work inside to educate new members as they’re coming in,” she said, adding that she will continue to lead women’s trips to Israel within the Democratic Party.
The congresswoman closed by saying that it is the larger responsibility of pro-Israel people to ensure the younger generation continues to get educated on issues like the Holocaust.
This story was produced with financial support from Trish and Dan Bell and donors in South Florida’s Jewish and Muslim communities, including Khalid and Diana Mirza and the Mohsin and Fauzia Jaffer Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
Two cities in the San Francisco Bay Area are facing a lawsuit brought on by the Trump administration seeking to end their bans on natural gas in new buildings.
On Jan. 5, the Department of Justice filed a suit in the Northern District of California against the cities of Morgan Hill and Petaluma.
According to the text of the lawsuit, federal prosecutors argue such bans lead to “crushing” costs for residents and are preempted by federal law.
“These natural gas bans hurt American families and are outright illegal,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “Alongside the Department of Energy, the Department of Justice is working around the clock to end radical environmentalist policies, restore common sense, and unleash American energy.”
Adam Gustafson, the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said, “When states and cities pick winners and losers, consumers pay the price. Our complaint seeks to restore consumer choice so that people and businesses can build in a way that fits their needs best.”
According to prosecutors, Morgan Hill approved a ban on new natural gas infrastructure in 2019, while Petaluma followed two years later.
Another Bay Area city, Berkeley, was the first in the country to implement a ban on natural gas on new homes and buildings, citing concerns about climate change. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out Berkeley’s ordinance in 2024, following a challenge brought on by the California Restaurant Association.
“Under that controlling precedent, Morgan Hill’s and Petaluma’s natural gas bans are invalid-as numerous other California cities have recognized when recently repealing or suspending their equivalent bans,” the lawsuit said.
In a statement to CBS News Bay Area on Tuesday, Morgan Hill City Attorney Donald Larkin said the city follows federal law and will continue to do so.
“The City has not denied any permits for gas infrastructure based on the 2019 ordinance since the courts struck down Berkeley’s similar ordinance. In fact, the City has approved projects with gas infrastructure. While we are still reviewing the complaint, this lawsuit appears to be an unnecessary effort to require the City to follow laws with which the City is already in compliance,” Larkin said.
Petaluma City Attorney Eric Danly said in a separate statement to CBS News Bay Area that they are also complying with federal law and that they are not enforcing their ordinance following the 9th Circuit ruling.
“In fact, the City has not denied any project or permit applications based on its electrification regulations, and has approved and is processing development projects that include gas infrastructure. In any event, the City has observed that developers have generally opted voluntarily to install electric utilities,” Danly said.
The lawsuit calls for the court to declare the bans are preempted by federal law and to enter a permanent injunction to prevent the ordinances from taking effect.
“Minnesota is going to be the protocols, procedures and investigative techniques and collaboration. Minnesota is going to be the genesis for a national rollout,” Bessent said. “Treasury will deploy all tools to bring an end to this egregious, unchecked fraud and hold perpetrators to account.”
According to Bessent, the IRS task force will specifically probe financial institutions that facilitate wire transfers, as evidence from the Feeding Our Future trial showed some suspects sent money to banks in Kenya and China. Bessent added that four Twin Cities-based businesses are under investigation, but did not share their names. The department is also requiring all financial institutions in Hennepin and Ramsey counties to report any overseas transfer of $3,000 or more.
“Think of the absurdity of money being wired from Minnesota by these individuals that could have come from government programs or from excess benefits,” Bessent added. “This should not be wired out of the country and we are going to be cracking down on that.”
Bessent’s visit also comes on the heels of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s announcement that a team of prosecutors is headed to Minnesota “to reinforce our U.S. Attorney’s Office and put perpetrators of this widespread fraud behind bars.”
“We will deliver severe consequences in Minnesota and stand ready to deploy to any other state where similar fraud schemes are robbing American taxpayers,” Bondi said.
Reached for comment, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office said it “categorically rejects the premise that the ‘underlying reason’ Trump has ordered the outsized presence of ICE in Minnesota is because of fraud,” and said “Ellison does have extensive experience in successfully fighting fraud.”
“What Donald Trump knows about fraud isn’t fighting it, it’s actually letting fraudsters out of prison,” Ellison’s office added.
A protester holds a sign related to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, November 12, 2025.
SAUL LOEB
AFP via Getty Images
The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing more than 2 million additional documents related to investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, and dozens of South Florida lawyers have been called in to help, Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed in a letter to a New York judge Monday.
The Justice Department has posted about 12,000 documents in response to a December deadline to release its files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. There are more than 2 million additional documents “that are in various phases of review,” Bondi wrote.
The new transparency law required the Justice Department release files from all investigations into the convicted sex trafficker — who is believed to have abused about 1,000 victims — by Dec. 19. The department blew past that deadline, releasing less than 1% of the potentially relevant files in its possession so far, according to Bondi’s letter.
The Justice Department announced two weeks ago, after the December deadline passed, that it had “uncovered” over a million additional documents to review. The department now believes many of those files are copies or “largely duplicative” of documents it already had in its possession, but still require examination, according to Bondi’s letter.
Initially, Justice Department attorneys in D.C. and the U.S. Attorney’s office in New York were reviewing the files, Bondi told a judge in mid-December. Since then, “dozens of lawyers” from the Miami-based U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida, where Epstein was investigated in the mid-2000s, have started reviewing files as well.
Bondi said these attorneys are being pulled from the Florida office’s criminal and national security divisions. Former prosecutors with the office believe it has become increasingly politicized under U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones, who is pushing to prosecute Donald Trump’s enemies, the Herald has reported.
In total, there are more than 400 lawyers across the Justice Department dedicated to reviewing Epstein files, Bondi said.
Also in the letter, which Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote to a judge in the U.S. case against Ghislaine Maxwell this week, the Justice Department described plans to “modify” its review process.
The department is changing its process for reviewing the documents, adding additional “electronic” reviews that were not included when Bondi detailed her plans for complying with the transparency law to the judge in December.
The latest updates come in addition to Blanche’s letter to Congress in December, obtained by the Herald, detailing the Justice Department’s plans to redact files above and beyond the requirements of the transparency act to protect victim information.
The Justice Department has also been blacking out information “otherwise covered by various privileges, including deliberative-process privilege, work-product privilege, and attorney-client privilege.”
Bondi said the new “electronic quality control searches” are to protect victim information that was inadvertently released in previous document dumps. But critics say the department has been withholding information from the released files without clear legal justification.
One document released last month, for example, redacted the names of the Epstein associates that were subpoenaed in 2019.
Records released by the DOJ Tuesday December 23, 2025 redacted the names of those Epstein associates were were subpoenaed in 2019. Department of Justice
The roughly 12,000 documents that have been released thus far under the new transparency law have revealed dozens of new photos of Epstein and powerful figures, including former President Bill Clinton. They also included multiple references to Donald Trump, with one 2020 memo revealing Trump was on many more flights with Epstein in the mid 1990s than the DOJ was initially aware of.
The documents also shed new light on the FBI’s investigations into others who may have participated in Epstein’s crimes, with one document naming 10 possible co-conspirators. The Justice Department redacted seven of these alleged co-conspirators’ names in the documents, drawing sharp criticism from the lawmakers that sponsored the bill forcing the release of the files.
The Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating Epstein’s financial transactions before his death in 2019, the newly released documents revealed. The files also revealed Epstein’s lawyers continued working to influence Florida prosecutors after they negotiated a cushy 2007 plea deal avoiding lengthy prison time for Epstein.
As the Miami Herald documented in its 2018 ”Perversion of Justice” investigation, under that deal, Epstein was allowed to leave jail regularly to work from a nearby office space where, according to lawsuits, he allegedly continued to abuse girls.
Miami Herald reporters Julie K. Brown and Ben Wieder contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 6, 2026 at 3:38 PM.
Claire Heddles is the Miami Herald’s senior political correspondent. She previously covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C at NOTUS. She’s also worked as a public radio reporter covering local government and education in East Tennessee and Jacksonville, Florida.
The capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro was “not just about drugs,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in her first interview about the military operation on “Hannity” Monday.
Maduro and other defendants could face charges in other places, Bondi said.
“Nothing is off the table,” Bondi told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “These people must remain behind bars. They are responsible for the loss of so many lives, and these aren’t street-level drug dealers. They are narco-traffickers.”
On Monday, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism and other charges in federal court.
The Justice Department says Maduro provided “Venezuelan diplomatic passports to drug traffickers and facilitated diplomatic cover for planes used by money launderers to repatriate drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela.”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro greets his supporters during a rally in Caracas on Dec. 1, 2025. (Pedro Mattey/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A man who had a brief exchange with Maduro in the Manhattan court told Fox News the dictator declared himself a “prisoner of war” and compared himself to Jesus.
“I am innocent, I am not guilty,” Maduro told the court. “I am a decent man. I am still president of my country.”
Some Democrats have criticized the military operation as a violation of state sovereignty, comparing it to former President George W. Bush’s actions in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Bondi insisted “Operation Absolute Resolve” was “well within” President Donald Trump’s constitutional authority in response to critics.
Persons escorted out of plane believed to carry Maduro, wife after Operation Absolute Resolve under cover of darkness.(WNYW)
“It was a law enforcement function to arrest indicted individuals in Venezuela,” Bondi explained. “Our military pulled off a flawless, flawless execution of that.”
She went on to stress Saturday’s covert operation “saved countless lives.”
“The president saved thousands, countless lives tonight,” Bondi said. “But he also protected Americans from the TDA [Tren de Aragua] members who Maduro let into our country, forced into our country.”
Captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appear with their attorneys Barry Pollack and Mark Donnelly at their arraignment in a federal court in New York City on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.(Jane Rosenberg)
The attorney general listed several murder victims of Venezuelan gang members, including 22-year-old Laken Riley and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.
“It’s horrific and it is going to stop,” she vowed.
The Venezuelan dictator and his wife are set to appear in court again March 17.
Stephanie Samsel is a digital production assistant at Fox News Digital. She has previously written for Campus Reform and the Media Research Center, covering political bias in education and entertainment. Follow her on X @StephSamsel.
Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.Video above: U.S. strikes Venezuela, captures President Maduro in overnight operationMaduro landed Saturday evening at a small airport in New York following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital, Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval. Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Rodríguez, who didn’t give a number. Trump said some U.S. forces were injured, but none were killed.Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership void to “fix” the country’s oil infrastructure and sell “large amounts” of oil to other countries. Video below: ‘We are going to run the country,’ Trump says of VenezuelaTrump says US will ‘run the country’The Trump administration promoted the ouster as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the U.S. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control of oil.Trump claimed the U.S. government would help lead the country and was already doing so, though there were no immediate visible signs of that. Venezuelan state TV aired pro-Maduro propaganda and broadcast live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference. He boasted that this “extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. campaign began in September.Video below: Fact checking President Trump’s Venezuela claimsEarly morning attackTaking place 36 years to the day after the 1990 surrender and seizure of Panama leader Manuel Antonio Noriega following a U.S. invasion, the Venezuela operation unfolded under the cover of darkness early Saturday. Trump said the U.S. turned off “almost all of the lights” in Caracas while forces moved in to extract Maduro and his wife.Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. 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 his clothes.“We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again,” Caine said. “Not to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong.”Multiple explosions rang out that morning, and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas. Maduro’s government accused the United States of hitting civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets. The explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they saw and heard.Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on airspace around Venezuela and the Caribbean expired early Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X, an announcement that suggested any further immediate major U.S. military action was unlikely. “Airlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,” he posted.Under Venezuelan law, Rodríguez would take over from Maduro. Rodríguez, however, stressed during a Saturday appearance on state television that she did not plan to assume power, before Venezuela’s high court ordered that she become interim president.“There is only one president in Venezuela,” Rodriguez said, “and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros.”Video below: President Donald Trump’s full comments on Venezuela strike and Nicolas Maduro captureSome streets in Caracas fill upVenezuela’s ruling party has held power since 1999, when Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, took office, promising to uplift poor people and later to implement a self-described socialist revolution.Maduro took over when Chávez died in 2013. His 2018 reelection was widely considered a sham because the main opposition parties were banned from participating. During the 2024 election, electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner hours after polls closed, but the opposition gathered overwhelming evidence that he lost by a more than 2-to-1 margin.In a demonstration of how polarizing Maduro is, people variously took to the streets to protest his capture, while others celebrated it. At a protest in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, Mayor Carmen Meléndez joined a crowd demanding Maduro’s return.“Maduro, hold on, the people are rising up!” the crowd chanted. “We are here, Nicolás Maduro. If you can hear us, we are here!”In other parts of the city, the streets were empty hours after the attack.“How do I feel? Scared, like everyone,” said Caracas resident Noris Prada, who sat on an empty avenue looking at his phone. “Venezuelans woke up scared. Many families couldn’t sleep.”In Doral, Florida, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people wrapped themselves in Venezuelan flags, ate fried snacks and cheered as music played. At one point, the crowd chanted “Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!”Questions of legalityWhether the United States violated any laws, international or otherwise, was still a question early Sunday. “There are a number of international legal concepts which the United States might have broken by capturing Maduro,” said Ilan Katz, an international law analyst.In New York, the U.N. Security Council, acting on an emergency request from Colombia, planned to hold a meeting on U.S. operations in Venezuela on Monday morning. That was according to a council diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting not yet made public.Lawmakers from both American political parties have raised reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling. Congress has not approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had seen no evidence that would justify Trump striking Venezuela without approval from Congress and demanded an immediate briefing by the administration on “its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.”___Toropin and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela; Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price, Seung Min Kim and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; and Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.
Video above: U.S. strikes Venezuela, captures President Maduro in overnight operation
Maduro landed Saturday evening at a small airport in New York following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital, Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval.
Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.
Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Rodríguez, who didn’t give a number. Trump said some U.S. forces were injured, but none were killed.
Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership void to “fix” the country’s oil infrastructure and sell “large amounts” of oil to other countries.
Video below: ‘We are going to run the country,’ Trump says of Venezuela
Trump says US will ‘run the country’
The Trump administration promoted the ouster as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the U.S. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control of oil.
Trump claimed the U.S. government would help lead the country and was already doing so, though there were no immediate visible signs of that. Venezuelan state TV aired pro-Maduro propaganda and broadcast live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference. He boasted that this “extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.
The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. campaign began in September.
Video below: Fact checking President Trump’s Venezuela claims
Early morning attack
Taking place 36 years to the day after the 1990 surrender and seizure of Panama leader Manuel Antonio Noriega following a U.S. invasion, the Venezuela operation unfolded under the cover of darkness early Saturday. Trump said the U.S. turned off “almost all of the lights” in Caracas while forces moved in to extract Maduro and his wife.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. 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 his clothes.
“We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again,” Caine said. “Not to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong.”
Multiple explosions rang out that morning, and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas. Maduro’s government accused the United States of hitting civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets. The explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they saw and heard.
Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on airspace around Venezuela and the Caribbean expired early Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X, an announcement that suggested any further immediate major U.S. military action was unlikely. “Airlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,” he posted.
Under Venezuelan law, Rodríguez would take over from Maduro. Rodríguez, however, stressed during a Saturday appearance on state television that she did not plan to assume power, before Venezuela’s high court ordered that she become interim president.
“There is only one president in Venezuela,” Rodriguez said, “and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros.”
Video below: President Donald Trump’s full comments on Venezuela strike and Nicolas Maduro capture
Some streets in Caracas fill up
Venezuela’s ruling party has held power since 1999, when Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, took office, promising to uplift poor people and later to implement a self-described socialist revolution.
Maduro took over when Chávez died in 2013. His 2018 reelection was widely considered a sham because the main opposition parties were banned from participating. During the 2024 election, electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner hours after polls closed, but the opposition gathered overwhelming evidence that he lost by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
In a demonstration of how polarizing Maduro is, people variously took to the streets to protest his capture, while others celebrated it. At a protest in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, Mayor Carmen Meléndez joined a crowd demanding Maduro’s return.
“Maduro, hold on, the people are rising up!” the crowd chanted. “We are here, Nicolás Maduro. If you can hear us, we are here!”
In other parts of the city, the streets were empty hours after the attack.
“How do I feel? Scared, like everyone,” said Caracas resident Noris Prada, who sat on an empty avenue looking at his phone. “Venezuelans woke up scared. Many families couldn’t sleep.”
In Doral, Florida, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people wrapped themselves in Venezuelan flags, ate fried snacks and cheered as music played. At one point, the crowd chanted “Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!”
Questions of legality
Whether the United States violated any laws, international or otherwise, was still a question early Sunday. “There are a number of international legal concepts which the United States might have broken by capturing Maduro,” said Ilan Katz, an international law analyst.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council, acting on an emergency request from Colombia, planned to hold a meeting on U.S. operations in Venezuela on Monday morning. That was according to a council diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting not yet made public.
Lawmakers from both American political parties have raised reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling. Congress has not approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.
Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had seen no evidence that would justify Trump striking Venezuela without approval from Congress and demanded an immediate briefing by the administration on “its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.”
___
Toropin and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela; Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price, Seung Min Kim and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; and Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.Maduro landed Saturday evening at a small airport in New York following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital, Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval. Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Rodríguez, who didn’t give a number. Trump said some U.S. forces were injured, but none were killed.Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership void to “fix” the country’s oil infrastructure and sell “large amounts” of oil to other countries. Trump says US will ‘run the country’The Trump administration promoted the ouster as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the U.S. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control of oil.Trump claimed the U.S. government would help lead the country and was already doing so, though there were no immediate visible signs of that. Venezuelan state TV aired pro-Maduro propaganda and broadcast live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference. He boasted that this “extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. campaign began in September.Early morning attackTaking place 36 years to the day after the 1990 surrender and seizure of Panama leader Manuel Antonio Noriega following a U.S. invasion, the Venezuela operation unfolded under the cover of darkness early Saturday. Trump said the U.S. turned off “almost all of the lights” in Caracas while forces moved in to extract Maduro and his wife.Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. 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 his clothes.“We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again,” Caine said. “Not to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong.”Multiple explosions rang out that morning, and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas. Maduro’s government accused the United States of hitting civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets. The explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they saw and heard.Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on airspace around Venezuela and the Caribbean expired early Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X, an announcement that suggested any further immediate major U.S. military action was unlikely. “Airlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,” he posted.Under Venezuelan law, Rodríguez would take over from Maduro. Rodríguez, however, stressed during a Saturday appearance on state television that she did not plan to assume power, before Venezuela’s high court ordered that she become interim president.“There is only one president in Venezuela,” Rodriguez said, “and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros.”Some streets in Caracas fill upVenezuela’s ruling party has held power since 1999, when Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, took office, promising to uplift poor people and later to implement a self-described socialist revolution.Maduro took over when Chávez died in 2013. His 2018 reelection was widely considered a sham because the main opposition parties were banned from participating. During the 2024 election, electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner hours after polls closed, but the opposition gathered overwhelming evidence that he lost by a more than 2-to-1 margin.In a demonstration of how polarizing Maduro is, people variously took to the streets to protest his capture, while others celebrated it. At a protest in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, Mayor Carmen Meléndez joined a crowd demanding Maduro’s return.“Maduro, hold on, the people are rising up!” the crowd chanted. “We are here, Nicolás Maduro. If you can hear us, we are here!”In other parts of the city, the streets were empty hours after the attack.“How do I feel? Scared, like everyone,” said Caracas resident Noris Prada, who sat on an empty avenue looking at his phone. “Venezuelans woke up scared. Many families couldn’t sleep.”In Doral, Florida, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people wrapped themselves in Venezuelan flags, ate fried snacks and cheered as music played. At one point, the crowd chanted “Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!”Questions of legalityWhether the United States violated any laws, international or otherwise, was still a question early Sunday. “There are a number of international legal concepts which the United States might have broken by capturing Maduro,” said Ilan Katz, an international law analyst.In New York, the U.N. Security Council, acting on an emergency request from Colombia, planned to hold a meeting on U.S. operations in Venezuela on Monday morning. That was according to a council diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting not yet made public.Lawmakers from both American political parties have raised reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling. Congress has not approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had seen no evidence that would justify Trump striking Venezuela without approval from Congress and demanded an immediate briefing by the administration on “its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.”___Toropin and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela; Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price, Seung Min Kim and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; and Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.
Maduro landed Saturday evening at a small airport in New York following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital, Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval.
Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.
Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Rodríguez, who didn’t give a number. Trump said some U.S. forces were injured, but none were killed.
Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership void to “fix” the country’s oil infrastructure and sell “large amounts” of oil to other countries.
Trump says US will ‘run the country’
The Trump administration promoted the ouster as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the U.S. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control of oil.
Trump claimed the U.S. government would help lead the country and was already doing so, though there were no immediate visible signs of that. Venezuelan state TV aired pro-Maduro propaganda and broadcast live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference. He boasted that this “extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.
The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. campaign began in September.
Early morning attack
Taking place 36 years to the day after the 1990 surrender and seizure of Panama leader Manuel Antonio Noriega following a U.S. invasion, the Venezuela operation unfolded under the cover of darkness early Saturday. Trump said the U.S. turned off “almost all of the lights” in Caracas while forces moved in to extract Maduro and his wife.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. 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 his clothes.
“We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again,” Caine said. “Not to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong.”
Multiple explosions rang out that morning, and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas. Maduro’s government accused the United States of hitting civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets. The explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they saw and heard.
Restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on airspace around Venezuela and the Caribbean expired early Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X, an announcement that suggested any further immediate major U.S. military action was unlikely. “Airlines are informed, and will update their schedules quickly,” he posted.
Under Venezuelan law, Rodríguez would take over from Maduro. Rodríguez, however, stressed during a Saturday appearance on state television that she did not plan to assume power, before Venezuela’s high court ordered that she become interim president.
“There is only one president in Venezuela,” Rodriguez said, “and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros.”
Some streets in Caracas fill up
Venezuela’s ruling party has held power since 1999, when Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, took office, promising to uplift poor people and later to implement a self-described socialist revolution.
Maduro took over when Chávez died in 2013. His 2018 reelection was widely considered a sham because the main opposition parties were banned from participating. During the 2024 election, electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner hours after polls closed, but the opposition gathered overwhelming evidence that he lost by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
In a demonstration of how polarizing Maduro is, people variously took to the streets to protest his capture, while others celebrated it. At a protest in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, Mayor Carmen Meléndez joined a crowd demanding Maduro’s return.
“Maduro, hold on, the people are rising up!” the crowd chanted. “We are here, Nicolás Maduro. If you can hear us, we are here!”
In other parts of the city, the streets were empty hours after the attack.
“How do I feel? Scared, like everyone,” said Caracas resident Noris Prada, who sat on an empty avenue looking at his phone. “Venezuelans woke up scared. Many families couldn’t sleep.”
In Doral, Florida, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people wrapped themselves in Venezuelan flags, ate fried snacks and cheered as music played. At one point, the crowd chanted “Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!”
Questions of legality
Whether the United States violated any laws, international or otherwise, was still a question early Sunday. “There are a number of international legal concepts which the United States might have broken by capturing Maduro,” said Ilan Katz, an international law analyst.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council, acting on an emergency request from Colombia, planned to hold a meeting on U.S. operations in Venezuela on Monday morning. That was according to a council diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting not yet made public.
Lawmakers from both American political parties have raised reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling. Congress has not approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.
Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had seen no evidence that would justify Trump striking Venezuela without approval from Congress and demanded an immediate briefing by the administration on “its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.”
___
Toropin and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela; Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price, Seung Min Kim and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; and Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Saturday that Nicolás Maduro and his wife “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.” Scott MacFarlane has details on the legal case against the former Venezuelan strongman.
The United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of the country in an extraordinary nighttime operation that was accompanied by a flurry of strikes following months of escalating Trump administration pressure on the oil-rich South American nation.The U.S. is now deciding next steps for Venezuela, President Donald Trump said Saturday on Fox News, adding, “We’ll be involved in it very much.”The legal authority for the attack was not immediately clear. The stunning American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 — exactly 36 years ago Saturday.U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York. Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges, but it was not previously known his wife had been and it wasn’t clear if Bondi was referring to a new indictment.Video below: CNN chief international security correspondent on the context of this strikeVenezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernández told The Associated Press that Maduro and Flores were at their home within the Ft. Tiuna military installation when they were captured.“That’s where they bombed,” he said. “And, there, they carried out what we could call a kidnapping of the president and the first lady of the country.”Early Saturday, multiple explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through the Venezuelan capital. Maduro’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets.With the Venezuelan leader’s whereabouts not known, the vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, would take power under Venezuelan law. There was no confirmation that had happened, though she did issue a statement after the strike, demanding proof of life for Maduro and his wife.Maduro, Trump said, “has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.” He set a news conference for Saturday morning.The attack itself lasted less than 30 minutes, and the explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they’d seen and heard. Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Rodríguez, the vice president, without giving a number.It was not known if more actions lie ahead, though Trump said in his post that the strikes were carried out “successfully.” The Pentagon referred questions about the safety of American personnel involved in the operation to the White House.The White House did not immediately respond to queries on where Maduro and his wife were being flown to.Maduro last appeared on state television Friday while meeting with a delegation of Chinese officials in Caracas.The strike followed a months-long Trump administration pressure campaign on the Venezuelan leader, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35 and the number of people killed at least 115, according to the Trump administration. Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as a necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S.Maduro has decried the U.S. military operations as a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power. Some streets in Caracas fill upArmed individuals and uniformed members of a civilian militia took to the streets of a Caracas neighborhood long considered a stronghold of the ruling party. But in other areas of the city, the streets remained empty hours after the attack. Parts of the city remained without power, but vehicles moved freely.“How do I feel? Scared, like everyone,” said Caracas resident Noris Prada, who sat on an empty avenue looking down at his phone. “Venezuelans woke up scared, many families couldn’t sleep.”Video obtained from Caracas and an unidentified coastal city showed tracers and smoke clouding the landscape sky as repeated muted explosions illuminated the night sky. Other footage showed an urban landscape with cars passing on a highway as blasts illuminated the hills behind them. Unintelligible conversation could be heard in the background. The videos were verified by The Associated Press.Smoke could be seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, while another military installation in the capital was without power.“The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes,” said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, her voice trembling. She was walking briskly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party. “We felt like the air was hitting us.”Video below: Caracas wakes up to a Venezuela without MaduroVenezuela’s government responded to the attack with a call to action. “People to the streets!” it said in a statement. “The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack.”The statement added that Maduro had “ordered all national defense plans to be implemented” and declared “a state of external disturbance.” That state of emergency gives him the power to suspend people’s rights and expand the role of the armed forces.The website of the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, a post that has been closed since 2019, issued a warning to American citizens in the country, saying it was “aware of reports of explosions in and around Caracas.”“U.S. citizens in Venezuela should shelter in place,” the warning said.Reaction emerges slowlyThe FAA warned all commercial and private U.S. pilots that the airspace over Venezuela and the small island nation of Curacao, just off the coast of the country, was off limits “due to safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing military activity.”The Armed Services committees in both houses of Congress, which have jurisdiction over military matters, have not been notified by the administration of any actions, according to a person familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it.Lawmakers from both political parties in Congress have raised deep reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling near the Venezuelan coast and Congress has not specifically approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had seen no evidence that would justify Trump striking Venezuela without approval from Congress and demanded an immediate briefing by the administration on “its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.”Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the military action and seizure of Maduro marks “a new dawn for Venezuela,” saying that “the tyrant is gone.” He posted on X hours after the strike. His boss, Rubio, reposted a post from July that said Maduro “is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government.”Cuba, a supporter of the Maduro government and a longtime adversary of the United States, called for the international community to respond to what President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez called “the criminal attack.”“Our zone of peace is being brutally assaulted,” he said on X. Iran’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the strikes.President Javier Milei of Argentina praised the claim by his close ally, Trump, that Maduro had been captured with a political slogan he often deploys to celebrate right-wing advances: “Long live freedom, dammit!” Toropin and AP journalist Lisa Mascaro reported from Washington.
CARACAS, Venezuela —
The United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of the country in an extraordinary nighttime operation that was accompanied by a flurry of strikes following months of escalating Trump administration pressure on the oil-rich South American nation.
The U.S. is now deciding next steps for Venezuela, President Donald Trump said Saturday on Fox News, adding, “We’ll be involved in it very much.”
The legal authority for the attack was not immediately clear. The stunning American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 — exactly 36 years ago Saturday.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York. Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges, but it was not previously known his wife had been and it wasn’t clear if Bondi was referring to a new indictment.
Video below: CNN chief international security correspondent on the context of this strike
Venezuelan ruling party leader Nahum Fernández told The Associated Press that Maduro and Flores were at their home within the Ft. Tiuna military installation when they were captured.
“That’s where they bombed,” he said. “And, there, they carried out what we could call a kidnapping of the president and the first lady of the country.”
Early Saturday, multiple explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through the Venezuelan capital. Maduro’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets.
With the Venezuelan leader’s whereabouts not known, the vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, would take power under Venezuelan law. There was no confirmation that had happened, though she did issue a statement after the strike, demanding proof of life for Maduro and his wife.
Maduro, Trump said, “has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.” He set a news conference for Saturday morning.
The attack itself lasted less than 30 minutes, and the explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they’d seen and heard. Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Rodríguez, the vice president, without giving a number.
It was not known if more actions lie ahead, though Trump said in his post that the strikes were carried out “successfully.” The Pentagon referred questions about the safety of American personnel involved in the operation to the White House.
The White House did not immediately respond to queries on where Maduro and his wife were being flown to.
Maduro last appeared on state television Friday while meeting with a delegation of Chinese officials in Caracas.
The strike followed a months-long Trump administration pressure campaign on the Venezuelan leader, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.
As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35 and the number of people killed at least 115, according to the Trump administration. Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as a necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S.
Maduro has decried the U.S. military operations as a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.
Some streets in Caracas fill up
Armed individuals and uniformed members of a civilian militia took to the streets of a Caracas neighborhood long considered a stronghold of the ruling party. But in other areas of the city, the streets remained empty hours after the attack. Parts of the city remained without power, but vehicles moved freely.
“How do I feel? Scared, like everyone,” said Caracas resident Noris Prada, who sat on an empty avenue looking down at his phone. “Venezuelans woke up scared, many families couldn’t sleep.”
Video obtained from Caracas and an unidentified coastal city showed tracers and smoke clouding the landscape sky as repeated muted explosions illuminated the night sky. Other footage showed an urban landscape with cars passing on a highway as blasts illuminated the hills behind them. Unintelligible conversation could be heard in the background. The videos were verified by The Associated Press.
Smoke could be seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, while another military installation in the capital was without power.
“The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes,” said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, her voice trembling. She was walking briskly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party. “We felt like the air was hitting us.”
Video below: Caracas wakes up to a Venezuela without Maduro
Venezuela’s government responded to the attack with a call to action. “People to the streets!” it said in a statement. “The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack.”
The statement added that Maduro had “ordered all national defense plans to be implemented” and declared “a state of external disturbance.” That state of emergency gives him the power to suspend people’s rights and expand the role of the armed forces.
The website of the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, a post that has been closed since 2019, issued a warning to American citizens in the country, saying it was “aware of reports of explosions in and around Caracas.”
“U.S. citizens in Venezuela should shelter in place,” the warning said.
Reaction emerges slowly
The FAA warned all commercial and private U.S. pilots that the airspace over Venezuela and the small island nation of Curacao, just off the coast of the country, was off limits “due to safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing military activity.”
The Armed Services committees in both houses of Congress, which have jurisdiction over military matters, have not been notified by the administration of any actions, according to a person familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it.
Lawmakers from both political parties in Congress have raised deep reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling near the Venezuelan coast and Congress has not specifically approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.
Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had seen no evidence that would justify Trump striking Venezuela without approval from Congress and demanded an immediate briefing by the administration on “its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.”
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the military action and seizure of Maduro marks “a new dawn for Venezuela,” saying that “the tyrant is gone.” He posted on X hours after the strike. His boss, Rubio, reposted a post from July that said Maduro “is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government.”
Cuba, a supporter of the Maduro government and a longtime adversary of the United States, called for the international community to respond to what President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez called “the criminal attack.”
“Our zone of peace is being brutally assaulted,” he said on X. Iran’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the strikes.
President Javier Milei of Argentina praised the claim by his close ally, Trump, that Maduro had been captured with a political slogan he often deploys to celebrate right-wing advances: “Long live freedom, dammit!”
Toropin and AP journalist Lisa Mascaro reported from Washington.
The legal authority for the strike — and whether Trump consulted Congress beforehand — was not immediately clear. The stunning, lightning-fast American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 — exactly 36 years ago Saturday.U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York. Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges, but it was not previously known that his wife had been, and it wasn’t clear if Bondi was referring to a new indictment. The details of the allegations against Flores were not immediately known.Multiple explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through the Venezuelan capital, and Maduro’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets.With Maduro’s whereabouts not known, the vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, would take power under Venezuelan law. There was no confirmation that had happened, though she did issue a statement after the strike.“We do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores,” Rodriguez said. “We demand proof of life.”Maduro, Trump said, “has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.” He set a news conference for later Saturday morning.The attack itself lasted less than 30 minutes and the explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they’d seen and heard. It was not known if there were any deaths or injuries on either side or if more actions lay ahead, though Trump said in his post that the strikes were carried out “successfully.”Video below: CNN chief international security correspondent on the context of this strikeSen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted on X that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had briefed him on the strike and said that Maduro “has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.”The White House did not immediately respond to queries on where Maduro and his wife were being flown to. Maduro was indicted in March 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges.Maduro last appeared on state television Friday while meeting with a delegation of Chinese officials in Caracas.The strike came after the Trump administration spent months increasing the pressure on Maduro, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35 and the number of people killed at least 115, according to the Trump administration. Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as a necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S.Maduro has decried the U.S. military operations as a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.Some streets in Caracas fill upArmed individuals and uniformed members of a civilian militia took to the streets of a Caracas neighborhood long considered a stronghold of the ruling party. But in other areas of the city, the streets remained empty hours after the attack. Parts of the city remained without power, but vehicles moved freely.Video obtained from Caracas and an unidentified coastal city showed tracers and smoke clouding the landscape sky as repeated muted explosions illuminated the night sky. Other footage showed an urban landscape with cars passing on a highway as blasts illuminated the hills behind them. Unintelligible conversation could be heard in the background. The videos were verified by The Associated Press.Smoke could be seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, while another military installation in the capital was without power.“The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes,” said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, her voice trembling. She was walking briskly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party. “We felt like the air was hitting us.”Video below: Caracas wakes up to a Venezuela without MaduroVenezuela’s government responded to the attack with a call to action. “People to the streets!” it said in a statement. “The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack.”The statement added that Maduro had “ordered all national defense plans to be implemented” and declared “a state of external disturbance.” That state of emergency gives him the power to suspend people’s rights and expand the role of the armed forces.The website of the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, a post that has been closed since 2019, issued a warning to American citizens in the country, saying it was “aware of reports of explosions in and around Caracas.”“U.S. citizens in Venezuela should shelter in place,” the warning said.Reaction emerges slowlyInquiries to the Pentagon and U.S. Southern Command since Trump’s social media post went unanswered. The FAA warned all commercial and private U.S. pilots that the airspace over Venezuela and the small island nation of Curacao, just off the coast of the country to the north, was off limits “due to safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing military activity.”U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted his potential concerns, reflecting a view from the right flank in the Congress. “I look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force,” Lee said on X.It was not clear if the U.S. Congress had been officially notified of the strikes.The Armed Services committees in both houses of Congress, which have jurisdiction over military matters, have not been notified by the administration of any actions, according to a person familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it.Lawmakers from both political parties in Congress have raised deep reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling on boats near the Venezuelan coast, and Congress has not specifically approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the military action and seizure of Maduro marks “a new dawn for Venezuela,” saying that “the tyrant is gone.” He posted on X hours after the strike. His boss, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reposted a post from July that said Maduro “is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government.”Cuba, a supporter of the Maduro government and a longtime adversary of the United States, called for the international community to respond to what President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez called “the criminal attack.” “Our zone of peace is being brutally assaulted,” he said on X. Iran’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the strikes.President Javier Milei of Argentina praised the claim by his close ally, Trump, that Maduro had been captured with a political slogan he often deploys to celebrate right-wing advances: “Long live freedom, dammit!”The U.S. military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.They followed a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America, including the arrival in November of the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier, which added thousands more troops to what was already the largest military presence in the region in generations.Trump has justified the boat strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.Toropin and AP journalist Lisa Mascaro reported from Washington.
CARACAS, Venezuela —
The legal authority for the strike — and whether Trump consulted Congress beforehand — was not immediately clear. The stunning, lightning-fast American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 — exactly 36 years ago Saturday.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York. Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges, but it was not previously known that his wife had been, and it wasn’t clear if Bondi was referring to a new indictment. The details of the allegations against Flores were not immediately known.
Multiple explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through the Venezuelan capital, and Maduro’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets.
With Maduro’s whereabouts not known, the vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, would take power under Venezuelan law. There was no confirmation that had happened, though she did issue a statement after the strike.
“We do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores,” Rodriguez said. “We demand proof of life.”
Maduro, Trump said, “has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.” He set a news conference for later Saturday morning.
The attack itself lasted less than 30 minutes and the explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they’d seen and heard. It was not known if there were any deaths or injuries on either side or if more actions lay ahead, though Trump said in his post that the strikes were carried out “successfully.”
Video below: CNN chief international security correspondent on the context of this strike
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted on X that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had briefed him on the strike and said that Maduro “has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.”
The White House did not immediately respond to queries on where Maduro and his wife were being flown to. Maduro was indicted in March 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges.
Maduro last appeared on state television Friday while meeting with a delegation of Chinese officials in Caracas.
The strike came after the Trump administration spent months increasing the pressure on Maduro, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.
As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35 and the number of people killed at least 115, according to the Trump administration. Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as a necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S.
Maduro has decried the U.S. military operations as a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.
Some streets in Caracas fill up
Armed individuals and uniformed members of a civilian militia took to the streets of a Caracas neighborhood long considered a stronghold of the ruling party. But in other areas of the city, the streets remained empty hours after the attack. Parts of the city remained without power, but vehicles moved freely.
Video obtained from Caracas and an unidentified coastal city showed tracers and smoke clouding the landscape sky as repeated muted explosions illuminated the night sky. Other footage showed an urban landscape with cars passing on a highway as blasts illuminated the hills behind them. Unintelligible conversation could be heard in the background. The videos were verified by The Associated Press.
Smoke could be seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, while another military installation in the capital was without power.
“The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes,” said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, her voice trembling. She was walking briskly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party. “We felt like the air was hitting us.”
Video below: Caracas wakes up to a Venezuela without Maduro
Venezuela’s government responded to the attack with a call to action. “People to the streets!” it said in a statement. “The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack.”
The statement added that Maduro had “ordered all national defense plans to be implemented” and declared “a state of external disturbance.” That state of emergency gives him the power to suspend people’s rights and expand the role of the armed forces.
The website of the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, a post that has been closed since 2019, issued a warning to American citizens in the country, saying it was “aware of reports of explosions in and around Caracas.”
“U.S. citizens in Venezuela should shelter in place,” the warning said.
Reaction emerges slowly
Inquiries to the Pentagon and U.S. Southern Command since Trump’s social media post went unanswered. The FAA warned all commercial and private U.S. pilots that the airspace over Venezuela and the small island nation of Curacao, just off the coast of the country to the north, was off limits “due to safety-of-flight risks associated with ongoing military activity.”
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted his potential concerns, reflecting a view from the right flank in the Congress. “I look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force,” Lee said on X.
It was not clear if the U.S. Congress had been officially notified of the strikes.
The Armed Services committees in both houses of Congress, which have jurisdiction over military matters, have not been notified by the administration of any actions, according to a person familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it.
Lawmakers from both political parties in Congress have raised deep reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling on boats near the Venezuelan coast, and Congress has not specifically approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the military action and seizure of Maduro marks “a new dawn for Venezuela,” saying that “the tyrant is gone.” He posted on X hours after the strike. His boss, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reposted a post from July that said Maduro “is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government.”
Cuba, a supporter of the Maduro government and a longtime adversary of the United States, called for the international community to respond to what President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez called “the criminal attack.” “Our zone of peace is being brutally assaulted,” he said on X. Iran’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the strikes.
President Javier Milei of Argentina praised the claim by his close ally, Trump, that Maduro had been captured with a political slogan he often deploys to celebrate right-wing advances: “Long live freedom, dammit!”
The U.S. military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.
They followed a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America, including the arrival in November of the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier, which added thousands more troops to what was already the largest military presence in the region in generations.
Trump has justified the boat strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
Toropin and AP journalist Lisa Mascaro reported from Washington.
Caracas (CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Saturday that the US will “run” Venezuela after capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a large-scale military operation, a stunning development that plunged the country into uncertainty after weeks of spiraling tensions.
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country,” he wrote on Truth Social early Saturday morning.
Trump later said the US would play a central role in running the country indefinitely until a formal transition of power can take place, while declining to rule out the possibility of longer-term military involvement in Venezuela.
“We’re going to be running it,” he said from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Venezuela requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council in response to the attack, Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto said.
“No cowardly attack will prevail against the strength of this people, who will emerge victorious,” he said on Telegram, sharing the letter sent to the UN.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez demanded the “immediate release” of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Rodríguez, who Trump said earlier was sworn in as president, said Venezuela’s territorial integrity was “savagely attacked” by the US operation.
Trump on Saturday morning posted a photo of Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima, where the Venezuelan president and his wife were held before being transported to New York, where they face charges. The ousted leader and his wife were brought to New York on Saturday evening, and Maduro is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
A new indictment filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and shared by Attorney General Pam Bondi alleges that Maduro ran “state sponsored gangs” and facilitated drug trafficking in the country.
Trump said he did not notify members of Congress until after the strike, saying at his news conference at Mar-a-Lago that “Congress has a tendency to leak. It would not be good if they leaked.”
Democratic lawmakers demanded an immediate briefing and criticized the administration for not seeking congressional authorization before the attack, while Republican lawmakers largely applauded the action.
Here’s what we know:
What happened?
A CNN team witnessed several explosions and heard the sounds of aircraft early Saturday in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, and reported that some areas of the city were without electricity.
Videos verified by CNN showed helicopters roaring over Caracas, with plumes of smoke rising into the night sky. Footage also showed a large blaze and explosions at an airport in the city of Higuerote.
Hours after the strikes, CNN’s Mary Mena said from Caracas that the capital was calm.
“We listened to many airplanes and helicopters passing by, but right now the city remains quiet, for the past two hours,” she said. “We haven’t heard people for example coming to the streets, and the state channel keeps repeating this message from the ministry of defense saying they want people to remain calm and they will deploy military forces across the country.”
The first blast witnessed by the CNN team was recorded at approximately 1:50 a.m. local time (12:50 a.m. ET).
“One was so strong, my window was shaking after it,” CNN en Español correspondent Osmary Hernández said.
US Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine later described an extensive overnight operation to capture Maduro and his wife that involved more than 150 aircraft launching from bases across the Western Hemisphere.
Among them were helicopters carrying an extraction force that entered Venezuela at low altitude before arriving at Maduro’s compound around 1 a.m. ET. The US soldiers came under fire, spending several hours on the ground before successfully capturing Maduro and his wife and flying out of Venezuela about 3:29 a.m. ET, Caine said.
Two sources familiar with the matter said Maduro and his wife were dragged from their bedroom by US forces during the raid. The couple was captured in the middle of the night as they were sleeping, the sources said.
The raid, carried out by the US Army’s elite Delta Force with the assistance of an FBI unit, did not lead to any US deaths. However, a handful of troops sustained bullet and shrapnel wounds, a source briefed on the matter told CNN. Caine also said that one aircraft “was hit, but remained flyable” and was able to make it out of Venezuela.
Maduro and his wife were then transferred to the USS Iwo Jima, beginning a trip that ultimately ended in New York, where they’re expected to stand trial on drug-trafficking charges.
Smoke raises at La Carlota airport after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela on January 3, 2026. Credit: Matias Delacroix / AP via CNN Newsource
Why is it happening?
The Trump administration has for years said that Maduro was a criminal and has sought to prosecute him through the US legal system.
In 2020, during Trump’s first term, the Department of Justice charged Maduro in the Southern District of New York for “narco-terrorism,” conspiracy to import cocaine, and related charges.
The Trump administration offered a $15 million bounty for Maduro’s arrest. That bounty was increased to $25 million in the waning days of the Biden administration, in early January 2025, and was increased again, to $50 million, in August 2025 after Trump took office for a second term and designated Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. The administration has claimed that Maduro is the leader of that group, which it describes as a criminal organization.
Trump had repeatedly warned for months that the US was preparing to take new action against alleged drug-trafficking networks in Venezuela and that strikes on land would start “soon.”
Trump’s pressure campaign on Maduro has included strikes destroying more than 30 boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean in what the US has described as a counter-narcotics campaign. Trump last month ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving Venezuela, and the US has seized multiple vessels since the announcement.
The CIA carried out a drone strike in December on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, CNN reported last month, citing sources, marking the first known US attack on a target inside that country.
Trump said Saturday he also directly urged Maduro to surrender voluntarily.
“I said, ‘You got to surrender,’” he said. “And I actually thought he was pretty close to doing so, but now he wished he did.”
Pedestrians run after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela on Saturday. Credit: Matias Delacroix / AP via CNN Newsource
Several world leaders, including US allies, have reacted with concern to the US operation.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he “wants to establish the facts” and speak to Trump about the military operation in Venezuela, according to the UK’s PA Media news agency.
“I always say and believe we should all uphold international law,” Starmer said, adding that Britain was “not involved in any way” in the strike on Caracas, PA Media reported.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said in a post on X that the commission “stand(s) by the people of Venezuela and support(s) a peaceful and democratic transition. Any solution must respect international law and the UN Charter.”
Many leaders across Latin America expressed concern to the US attack on Venezuela, with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel slamming what he called a “criminal” attack by the US. Meanwhile, Argentine President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, appeared to welcome the capture of Venezuela’s leader with a message on X: “Freedom advances! Long live freedom, damn it!”
Venezuela’s allies Russia and Iran condemned the US attack.
The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced what it called an “act of armed aggression against Venezuela” by the US, calling any “excuses” given to justify such actions “untenable.”
“We reaffirm our solidarity with the Venezuelan people and our support for the Bolivarian leadership’s course of action aimed at protecting the country’s national interests and sovereignty,” a statement from the foreign ministry said.
Similarly, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the attack violates Venezuela’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the UN Charter, Iranian state news outlet Press TV reported.
What comes next?
What happens next in Venezuela is far from clear. The country’s constitution states that power passes to Maduro’s vice president, Rodríguez.
Trump said that Rodríguez spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and that “she’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”
However, in a defiant address broadcast from Caracas, Rodríguez asserted that Maduro is “the only president of Venezuela” and that Venezuelans “must not become slaves again.”
Trump said he planned to have the US effectively run Venezuela for an indefinite period as it works toward a formal transition of power. Top US officials, including Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, will work with a “team” to assist in leading the country, he said, without offering specifics.
Trump could not say how long the US would be centrally involved in Venezuela’s governance, but suggested that he was open to a longer-term process that could include a US military presence.
He repeatedly asserted that his administration would partner with US energy companies to take control of Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, arguing that the US was owed oil as “reimbursement for the damages” that he alleged had been inflicted on the country by Venezuela.
“We’re going to take back the oil that, frankly, we should have taken back a long time ago,” Trump said.
That leaves the future of the current Venezuelan regime in serious doubt, yet little clarity on whether its opposition — within and outside the country — will be positioned to capitalize on the opportunity.
If the US ultimately follows Venezuela’s constitutional path, elections are supposed to be held within 30 days. The newly elected president then serves a full six-year term.
The most likely opposition candidate is Edmundo González Urrutia, who ran in the 2024 election. González, an academic and longtime diplomat, is now in exile in Spain. He is supported by the recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, democratic activist María Corina Machado.
On Saturday, Machado said the time has come for “popular sovereignty” in Venezuela and the installation of González as the country’s leader.
“Nicolás Maduro from today faces international justice for the atrocious crimes committed against Venezuelans and against citizens of many other nations,” she said in a letter posted on X. “Given his refusal to accept a negotiated solution, the government of the United States has fulfilled its promise to enforce the law.”
But Trump declined to endorse any immediate successor or lay out a plan for holding elections and restoring stability in Venezuela, while rejecting the possibility that Machado could serve as an interim leader.
“She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” he said. “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”
Instead, Trump appeared comfortable in the immediate aftermath of Maduro’s ouster with maintaining control over Venezuela for as long as he deemed fit.
“It’s not going to cost us anything,” he said. “We’re going to be rebuilding.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Osmary Hernández, Mary Triny Mena, Tim Lister, Jennifer Hansler, Alejandra Jaramillo, Isaac Yee, Michael Rios, Billy Stockwell and Laura Sharman contributed to this report
Related
Stefano Pozzebon, Simone McCarthy, Adam Cancryn and CNN
A Midlothian man has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization after he brought bomb-making materials to an individual he thought was part of ISIS, authorities said.
According to the complaint, Garza brought bomb-making components to a meeting on Dec. 22.
FBI undercover operation leads to arrest
“In reality, Garza met with an FBI undercover,” according to a news release. “During the meeting, Garza described how to mix components and offered to send an instructional video explaining how to build the bomb.”
Garza was arrested after he left the meeting.
It all began in October, federal officials say, when an undercover New York City police employee noticed a social media account, later determined to be Garza’s, following several pro-ISIS accounts. When the New York employee reached out to Garza, he described himself as a 21-year-old Mexican-American living in Texas.
Online activity reveals ISIS ideology
As the New York undercover officer and Garza continued to chat online, Garza shared that he ascribed to ISIS ideology and even sent small amounts of cryptocurrency, believing he was helping support ISIS causes.
Garza sent the undercover office multiple official ISIS media releases, federal officials said, and paid small amounts of cryptocurrency in November and December 2025, believing that he was supporting ISIS causes, including buying firearms and other materials, the DOJ said.
“This case is a testament to the incredible work of our federal agents, who work tirelessly to save American lives,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “ISIS’s poisonous ideology must be ripped out root and stem — anyone who tries to commit violence on ISIS’s behalf will be found, arrested, and prosecuted. You cannot hide from us.”
Garza’s initial court appearance was Dec. 23. A probable cause and detention hearing has been set for Dec. 30.
Authorities praise investigative efforts
“Today’s announcement underscores the FBI’s commitment to combating terrorism and demonstrates our continuous work to disrupt and thwart terrorist plots against the American public,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Let this serve as a warning to those who plan to conduct attacks against the United States on behalf of terrorist organizations- you will be brought to justice.”
Raybould promised federal authorities would take quick action against anyone suspected of trying to commit acts of terrorism.
“The increasing threats of harm and destruction in our country made by those aligned with violent ideologies must be stopped,” Raybould said. “This operation is but one example highlighting the necessity of vigilant observation and swift action to halt what could have been a devastating outcome.”
New York PD Commissioner Jessica Tisch thanked the work of the undercover investigators in her department.
“Today’s charges illustrate that the threats of terrorism and extremist violence against our nation are still very real,” said Tisch. “The NYPD remains committed to identifying, disrupting, and dismantling these networks at their source – before they can reach their murderous ends. And any person who puts American lives at risk will face justice and be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
Multiple agencies assisted in the investigation, officials said, including the FBI’s Dallas Field Office, the New York City Police Department, with assistance by the FBI’s New York Field Office, the Dallas Police Department, the Midlothian Police Department, and the Euless Police Department.
“The FBI worked alongside our law enforcement partners to quickly arrest an individual who intended to provide bomb making materials to a foreign terrorist organization,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. “Protecting the homeland is a top priority for the FBI. This arrest demonstrates our commitment to safeguarding our communities from terrorism.”
How will Republicans and Democrats respond to the delayed release of the Epstein files? – CBS News
Watch CBS News
Lawmakers may take action against the Department of Justice for the delayed release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson weighs in.
Justice Department pulls down some Epstein files, says more could come down – CBS News
Watch CBS News
At least 15 documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that were initially made public have been pulled from the Justice Department website. The agency says it will keep reviewing and redacting materials to “protect victims.” Shanelle Kaul has more.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Sunday it restored a photo featuring President Donald Trump to its latest release of Jeffrey Epstein–related documents after a review determined the image did not depict any Epstein victims.
In a post on X, the DOJ said the photo was initially taken down “out of an abundance of caution” after the Southern District of New York flagged it for additional review to protect potential victims.
Following a review, officials concluded no Epstein victims were shown in the photograph, and it was reposted without “alteration or redaction,” according to the DOJ.
“The Southern District of New York flagged an image of President Trump for potential further action to protect victims,” the DOJ wrote. “Out of an abundance of caution, the Department of Justice temporarily removed the image for further review. After the review, it was determined there is no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted in the photograph, and it has been reposted without any alteration or redaction.”
The DOJ said the photo was initially taken down “out of an abundance of caution” after the Southern District of New York flagged it for additional review to protect potential victims.(Department of Justice)
Earlier Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the removal of the photo had “nothing to do with President Trump” and was instead driven by concerns for the women depicted, he said during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The explanation came after reports that at least 16 files had disappeared from the DOJ’s Epstein-related public webpage less than a day after they were posted on Friday, without public notice or an initial explanation, The Associated Press reported.
The Department of Justice headquarters is seen on February 19, 2020, in Washington, D.C.(Drew Angerer)
The missing files included one that showed a series of photos displayed on a cabinet and inside a drawer. In the drawer, there was a photo of Donald Trump pictured alongside Melania Trump, Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, AP reported.
On Saturday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee criticized the removal of the photo, writing, “We need transparency for the American public.”
“This photo, file 468, from the Epstein files that includes Donald Trump has apparently now been removed from the DOJ release,” Democrats on the House Oversight Committee posted on X. “[Attorney General Pam Bondi] is this true? What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.”
The Department of Justice released a trove of Epstein documents on Dec. 19 following President Trump’s signature on the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
The DOJ released the trove of files after The Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed by President Trump on Nov. 19, 2025, required AG Pam Bondi to release all unclassified records, communications and investigative materials related to Epstein within 30 days.
The agency posted thousands of pages on a government website Friday related to Epstein’s and Maxwell’s sex-trafficking cases. The files were released as the result of a deadline imposed by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Fox News Digital’s Lori Bashian contributed to this report.
Sophia Compton is a Writer at Fox News Digital. Sophia was previously a business reporter covering finance, energy and tourism and has experience as a TV news producer. She graduated with a journalism degree in 2021 from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
The Justice Department released thousands of files relating to Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, including photos featuring people like former President Bill Clinton and Mick Jagger. However, survivors are concerned with how much information was redacted from the files.
Federal authorities said Monday that they foiled a plot to bomb multiple sites of two U.S. companies on New Year’s Eve in Southern California after arresting members of an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group.The four suspects were arrested Friday in the Mojave Desert east of Los Angeles as they were rehearsing their plot, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference. Officials showed reporters surveillance aerial footage of the suspects moving a large black object in the desert to a table. Officials said they were able to make the arrests before the suspects assembled a functional explosive device.In the criminal complaint, the four suspects named are Audrey Illeene Carroll, 30; Zachary Aaron Page, 32; Dante Gaffield, 24; and Tina Lai, 41. They are all from the Los Angeles area, Essayli said.Officials did not describe a motive but said they are members of an offshoot of a group dubbed the Turtle Island Liberation Front. The group calls for decolonization, tribal sovereignty and “the working class to rise up and fight back against capitalism,” according to the criminal complaint.The term “Turtle Island” is used by some Indigenous peoples to describe North America in a way that reflects its existence outside of the colonial boundaries put in place by the U.S. and Canada. It comes from Indigenous creation stories where the continent was formed on the back of a giant turtle.Officials also found “Free Palestine” flyers at the desert campsite where the suspects were working with the bomb-making materials.The charges against each suspect include conspiracy and possession of a destructive device. Essayli said additional charges were expected in coming weeks.The four suspects’ attorneys did not immediately return requests for comment, and The Associated Press was unable to reach family members. AP also sent Turtle Island Liberation Front’s social media accounts messages asking for comment but did not get a response.Alleged plot had multiple targetsEssayli said Carroll last month created a detailed plan to bomb five or more business locations across Southern California on New Year’s Eve. He declined to name the companies but described them as “Amazon-type” logistical centers.“Carroll’s bomb plot was explicit,” Essayli said. “It included step-by-step instructions to build IEDs… and listed multiple targets across Orange County and Los Angeles.”The plan included planting backpacks filled with complex pipe bombs that were set to be detonated simultaneously at midnight on New Year’s Eve at five locations, according to officials and the criminal complaint. New Year’s Eve was identified as an opportune time in the plan that stated “fireworks will be going off at this time so explosions will be less likely to be noticed,” according to the investigation.The eight-page handwritten plan titled “OPERATION MIDNIGHT SUN” stated more locations could be added. The locations were identified as property and facilities operated by two separate companies tied to activities affecting interstate and foreign commerce, according to the complaint.Two of the group’s members also had discussed plans for future attacks targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and vehicles with pipe bombs in 2026, according to the criminal complaint.Carroll noted “that would take some of them out and scare the rest of them,’” according to the complaint.The plans were discussed both at an in-person meeting with members in Los Angeles and through an encrypted messaging app, Essayli said.‘Bomb-making components’ found at campsitePhotos included in the court documents show a desert campsite with what investigators said were bomb-making materials strewn across plastic folding tables.The suspects “all brought bomb-making components to the campsite, including various sizes of PVC pipes, suspected potassium nitrate, charcoal, charcoal powder, sulfur powder, and material to be used as fuses, among others,” the complaint states.The plan included instructions on how to manufacture the bombs and also how to avoid leaving evidence behind that could be traced back to the group, officials said. The suspects recently had acquired precursor chemicals and other items, including purchases from Amazon, according to the complaint.The FBI moved in last week as they rehearsed the attack in the desert near Twentynine Palms, California, officials said.“They had everything they needed to make an operational bomb at that location,” Essayli said.Authorities issued search warrants and found posters for the Turtle Island Liberation Front at Carroll’s home that called for “Death to America,” and “Death to ICE,” Essayli said. In Page’s residence, police found a copy of the detailed bomb plan, he added.Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said while federal and local officials disagree on the Trump administration’s immigration raids, they come together still to protect residents. The LAPD does not stop people or take action for any reason related to immigration status, and it doesn’t enforce immigration laws, a practice that has been in place for 45 years.“The successful disruption of this plot is a powerful testament to the strength of our unified response,” McDonnell said.The suspects were taken into custody without incident. They were scheduled to appear in court in Los Angeles Monday afternoon.___Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press journalists Jessica Hill in Las Vegas and Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma, contributed to this report.
LOS ANGELES —
Federal authorities said Monday that they foiled a plot to bomb multiple sites of two U.S. companies on New Year’s Eve in Southern California after arresting members of an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group.
The four suspects were arrested Friday in the Mojave Desert east of Los Angeles as they were rehearsing their plot, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference. Officials showed reporters surveillance aerial footage of the suspects moving a large black object in the desert to a table. Officials said they were able to make the arrests before the suspects assembled a functional explosive device.
In the criminal complaint, the four suspects named are Audrey Illeene Carroll, 30; Zachary Aaron Page, 32; Dante Gaffield, 24; and Tina Lai, 41. They are all from the Los Angeles area, Essayli said.
Officials did not describe a motive but said they are members of an offshoot of a group dubbed the Turtle Island Liberation Front. The group calls for decolonization, tribal sovereignty and “the working class to rise up and fight back against capitalism,” according to the criminal complaint.
The term “Turtle Island” is used by some Indigenous peoples to describe North America in a way that reflects its existence outside of the colonial boundaries put in place by the U.S. and Canada. It comes from Indigenous creation stories where the continent was formed on the back of a giant turtle.
Officials also found “Free Palestine” flyers at the desert campsite where the suspects were working with the bomb-making materials.
The charges against each suspect include conspiracy and possession of a destructive device. Essayli said additional charges were expected in coming weeks.
The four suspects’ attorneys did not immediately return requests for comment, and The Associated Press was unable to reach family members. AP also sent Turtle Island Liberation Front’s social media accounts messages asking for comment but did not get a response.
Alleged plot had multiple targets
Essayli said Carroll last month created a detailed plan to bomb five or more business locations across Southern California on New Year’s Eve. He declined to name the companies but described them as “Amazon-type” logistical centers.
“Carroll’s bomb plot was explicit,” Essayli said. “It included step-by-step instructions to build IEDs… and listed multiple targets across Orange County and Los Angeles.”
The plan included planting backpacks filled with complex pipe bombs that were set to be detonated simultaneously at midnight on New Year’s Eve at five locations, according to officials and the criminal complaint. New Year’s Eve was identified as an opportune time in the plan that stated “fireworks will be going off at this time so explosions will be less likely to be noticed,” according to the investigation.
The eight-page handwritten plan titled “OPERATION MIDNIGHT SUN” stated more locations could be added. The locations were identified as property and facilities operated by two separate companies tied to activities affecting interstate and foreign commerce, according to the complaint.
Two of the group’s members also had discussed plans for future attacks targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and vehicles with pipe bombs in 2026, according to the criminal complaint.
Carroll noted “that would take some of them out and scare the rest of them,’” according to the complaint.
The plans were discussed both at an in-person meeting with members in Los Angeles and through an encrypted messaging app, Essayli said.
‘Bomb-making components’ found at campsite
Photos included in the court documents show a desert campsite with what investigators said were bomb-making materials strewn across plastic folding tables.
The suspects “all brought bomb-making components to the campsite, including various sizes of PVC pipes, suspected potassium nitrate, charcoal, charcoal powder, sulfur powder, and material to be used as fuses, among others,” the complaint states.
The plan included instructions on how to manufacture the bombs and also how to avoid leaving evidence behind that could be traced back to the group, officials said. The suspects recently had acquired precursor chemicals and other items, including purchases from Amazon, according to the complaint.
The FBI moved in last week as they rehearsed the attack in the desert near Twentynine Palms, California, officials said.
“They had everything they needed to make an operational bomb at that location,” Essayli said.
Authorities issued search warrants and found posters for the Turtle Island Liberation Front at Carroll’s home that called for “Death to America,” and “Death to ICE,” Essayli said. In Page’s residence, police found a copy of the detailed bomb plan, he added.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said while federal and local officials disagree on the Trump administration’s immigration raids, they come together still to protect residents. The LAPD does not stop people or take action for any reason related to immigration status, and it doesn’t enforce immigration laws, a practice that has been in place for 45 years.
“The successful disruption of this plot is a powerful testament to the strength of our unified response,” McDonnell said.
The suspects were taken into custody without incident. They were scheduled to appear in court in Los Angeles Monday afternoon.
___
Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press journalists Jessica Hill in Las Vegas and Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma, contributed to this report.
