MADURO IN CUFFS! Venezuelan Dictator Nicolás Maduro Captured, Trump Holds Presser [WATCH]

President Donald Trump set the internet on fire after sharing an image of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro aboard the U.S.S. Iwo Jima — a gray-sweatsuit photo op that looks like pure humiliation: blindfolded, restrained, water bottle in hand.

Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima. pic.twitter.com/omF2UpDJhA

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 3, 2026

Overnight, the U.S. carried out strikes in Venezuela and captured Maduro and his wife, with the duo headed to New York to face criminal charges, according to Trump.

Trump said the United States will temporarily run Venezuela after the capture of Nicolás Maduro.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said from his Palm Beach, Fla., residence. “So we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in. And we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years. So we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition. And it has to be judicious because that’s what we’re all about. We want peace, liberty and justice for the great people of Venezuela, and that includes many from Venezuela that are now living in the United States and want to go back to their country. It’s their homeland.”

.@POTUS: “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.” pic.twitter.com/VkfaCbg3su

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 3, 2026

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) jumped in with full-throated backup — framing the operation as moral payback and national self-defense.

“Today’s military action in Venezuela was a decisive and justified operation that will protect American lives,” Johnson said in a statement on X.

And he went even harder: “Nicolas Maduro is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans after years of trafficking illegal drugs and violent cartel members into our country — crimes for which he’s been properly indicted in U.S. courts and an arrest warrant duly issued — and today he learned what accountability looks like,” he continued.

I have spoken in the last several hours with @SecRubio and @SecWar Hegseth, and the nation will hear from @POTUS in his address at 11am ET.

Today’s military action in Venezuela was a decisive and justified operation that will protect American lives.

Nicolas Maduro is…

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 3, 2026

Trump confirmed Maduro and his wife were captured after strikes and taken from the country after strikes in Venezuela’s capital Caracas — and he’s expected to address the nation on the operation at 11 a.m. Saturday, with lawmakers set to receive briefings as Congress returns next week.