On the night of January 3, 2026, the US government launched a military operation to capture the sitting president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. In doing so, US military personnel bombed Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, serving as a distraction to allow Delta Force to capture Maduro and his wife. A multitude of sources have placed the death toll of the operation at more than 40 individuals, though the death toll is still being assessed. Maduro and his wife were then transported to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where they are currently being held [as of Jan. 7, 2026], on charges of drug trafficking, cocaine conspiracy, and narco-terrorism. He was originally indicted in 2020 of all the charges he faces now. In the first Manhattan court appearance on January 5, Maduro maintained his innocence. His trial will be continued in the next few weeks with 92 year-old Judge Hellerstein, appointed by then-president Clinton in 1998, overseeing the trial. This initial slew of information released was a part of a late night “Truth Social” post by President Trump.
In the official news conference on January 4, the Trump administration maintained the stance that the capturing of Maduro was a law enforcement action, not needing Congress’s approval. Trump also stated that “We will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” and they will rebuild the oil industry. He also stated that he directed major oil companies, including Exxon, to extract oil from Venezuela. Venezuela currently has 17%-20% of all oil reserves in the world. The Venezuelan government, pre-January 3, has restricted the amount of oil drilling by foreign companies. With the pending regime change, it has been implied that Venezuela will be open to oil extraction by American companies. The administration also stated that they support Maduro’s vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, stepping into the role of acting president of Venezuela. In the press conference and subsequent posts, the Trump administration has stated and continues to imply that Venezuela may not be the last region in the Western Hemisphere that the US attempts to control in the future. On Air Force 1, President Trump reaffirmed his position that Greenland is crucial to the national security of the United States.
US Response
The widely accepted opinion of Maduro’s presidency has been that it is illegitimate and that his regime has been widely classified as authoritarian and has committed extensive human rights violations. There have been many responses, with the issue dividing Senators and House Representatives alike. Notably, it has been revealed that leaders of the House and Senate’s Armed Services committee were not notified of the operation until after it had concluded. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) went a step forward calling Maduro “a tyrant who repressed Venezuelans and aligned with our adversaries.”
Tom Kaine (D-VA), Democratic Senator from Virginia and member of the Senate’s Armed Services committee, called the US invasion illegal and promised to seek a Senate vote to declare that Trump should not be waging this “unilateral presidentially declared war against Venezuela” without congressional authorization. (quote from The Nation Magazine)
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), House representative from New York, tweeted that “It’s not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn’t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month,” she wrote on X. “It’s about oil and regime change.” She is referencing President Trump’s recent pardon given to Juan Orlando Hernández, former president of Honduras. In June 2024, Hernández was convicted of conspiring to import cocaine and firearm offenses. He was facing a 45-year sentence.
Zohran Mamdani, newly installed New York City mayor, stated that “unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law. This blatant pursuit of regime change doesn’t just affect those abroad, it directly impacts New Yorkers, including tens of thousands of Venezuelans who call this city home.” (Mamdani’s social media) Notably, Maduro and his wife are being held in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. However, Mamdani has stated that his administration will cooperate with the imprisonment of the Venezuelan president.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), one of the leaders of the GOP in the Senate, took a different approach, drawing parallels to the Afghanistan war. “I don’t think our nation wants to be into nation-building and to be trying to create a government for another country, especially after the Afghanistan situation.”
Similar responses have been stated from both sides of the aisle from Republican congressmen like Thom Tilles (R-NC) and Rand Paul (R-KY) to Independent Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to Democrat congressmen Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Ro Khanna (D-CA).
There have been some members of Congress who have supported Trump’s actions in Venezuela.
Mike Johnson (R-LA), Speaker of the House and Representative of Louisiana, called the strikes and capture of Maduro justified, and that “military action in Venezuela was a decisive and justified operation that will protect American lives,”
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in an interview on Fox News stated that “Congress doesn’t need to be notified every time the executive branch is making an arrest” reaffirming the administration stance that the military operation was an arrest, not an act of war. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) argued Trump’s actions were undertaken as part of “the execution of a valid Department of Justice warrant.”
Former Senator of Florida and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated in the press conference that Congress was not notified due to it being a “trigger-based mission.” Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) in an official statement, celebrated the arrest of Maduro. “The United States and our hemisphere are safer because of President Trump’s leadership.”
DISCLAIMER: This article was written from January 6-7, 2026 and any future information released post-January 7th will not be accounted for. This matter is still ongoing and not all the facts have been solidified or disclosed. For more information, feel free to research and consult professional news websites.
