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Trump: United States Captures Venezuelan Leader After Strikes On Country; Trump Gave Green Light For Maduro's Capture Several Days Ago; Trump: Maduro, Wife " Captured And Flown Out Of The Country"; Trump: United States "Carried Out Large-Scale Strike Against Venezuela". Aired 7-8a ET

Aired January 03, 2026 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

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[07:00:05]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Victor Blackwell in Atlanta, and we are following "BREAKING NEWS" this morning.

President Trump says the U.S. carried out large scale strikes on Venezuela overnight, and he says its president, Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have been captured and flown out of the country.

Now, Maduro was indicted in 2020 here in the U.S. for narco-terrorism and other charges.

The Venezuelan vice president says that she has no idea where Maduro and the first lady are.

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DELCY RODRIGUEZ, VICE PRESIDENT, VENEZUELA (through translator): Faced with this brutal situation and this brutal attack, we do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. We demand immediate proof of life from the government of President Donald Trump. Proof of life for President Maduro and the first lady.

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BLACKWELL: Now, President Trump says that he will address the nation on the strikes from Mar-a-Lago later this morning. Right now, it is quiet in the capital of Caracas, just hours after the strikes. But earlier, explosions rocked Venezuela, knocked out power, sent people running inside.

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BLACKWELL: All right. That was a strike at La Carlota Air Base in Caracas. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins me now from London.

Nick, the news that U.S. forces have captured and removed Venezuela's president, as I said last hour, stunning, but the questions of what's the goal and what now are front of mind?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, I think, the ultimate question is, who is now going to run Venezuela? And does the United States, with an operation that clearly shows planning, efficiency, extraordinary confidence in its scope? Did it also factor in the day after?

And is now, Delcy Rodriguez, the vice president, who you might argue on the parts the Constitution is the immediate, obvious successor to a government that the United States and European countries have questioned the legitimacy of -- because of the elections that, at times, have been controlled and even staged.

Does she now become the new head of state? What does this mean for Venezuela's armed forces? The significant explosions you are seeing there over this seems like hours-long operation across Venezuela, not just in the capital, it seems, did that hobble the military? Did it lead them to, perhaps, change their political calculus?

And what does it mean too for the cabal of elite around Nicolas Maduro, who must now be wondering if they continue in their roles, whether a similar middle of the night abduction by U.S. special forces potentially awaits them.

It's worth reminding people, as you see those startling images of Caracas, about what a normal, quiet, sleepy city indeed that is, and how the millions of ordinary residents there will in the opening days of this new year, be utterly terrified to have heard this series of explosions.

The talk of President Trump, that he might launch land operations. Many, I think, felt were far-fetched, perhaps, bluster, but this is clearly an operation that had a significant amount of strategic planning to it. We don't know where these helicopters launched themselves from, but they were numerous enough that they appear to have taken Maduro with what we can see, at this point, not enormous amount of resistance but in two, leaves questions as to exactly how well-prepared Venezuela was to fend off, something like this that Trump had telegraphed for quite some time.

But do we now face the remnants of Maduro's regime being more anti American, more aggressive? The U.S. might argue, potentially even more in control of the drug trafficking apparatus that the White House has claimed it was targeting through removing Maduro like this.

The other question too is, what happens to Nicolas Maduro, himself? President Trump's 74-word tweet that broke the extraordinary silence as to who was behind this substantial military operation that, frankly, only the U.S. really could have carried out, referenced U.S. law enforcement being involved in that operation.

We now seem to learn this involves now a court process that will get underway potentially. The grand jury heard indictments against Maduro in New York, is the 6-1/2-hour delay that we are now seeing between the announcement of this raid and Trump's press conference, perhaps a moment in which Maduro is brought to the United States.

We'll learn more answers about this in the hours ahead, about Maduro's specific fate, and indeed, that of his wife captured alongside of him. But the urgent questions now are for Venezuelans, who leads their country has the Maduro and indeed the Chavez-era which preceded it gone? Are we going to see celebrations at the end of a regime possibly less likely than now seeing the remnants of Maduro as regime scrambling for power -- safe what they can get away with doing, whether their military is who?

[07:05:00]

These two significant narco organizations that the U.S. claims Maduro was at the top of, the Tren de Aragua and the Cartel de los Soles, whether they are vying now for increased power or influence, too. Many unanswered questions, but we may learn in the hours ahead, if indeed the U.S. had more of a plan for the day after Maduro, or whether they simply liked the sort of urgency of an operation like this removed, a man who they say was an arch criminal, but was also, frankly, a geopolitical irritant for the United States as well.

Or whether they have a more long-term plan for who comes next. Whether there is a bid to ask for elections or further negotiation that can indeed happen.

But it's important when we see a moment like this, just to step back and take stock of what we're observing, which is a moment where the United States military, without real warning, I think, it's fair about congressional debate without the kind of lead up we saw to the invasion of Iraq or other things over the past 20 years will be -- people be familiar with sudden U.S. military action that takes a sitting president of a country that was an irritant to the United States out of its what should be fortified and secured capital and whisks them away to the United States.

That's startling. It will certainly leave people in Moscow flabbergasted that a key ally of theirs is gone. China, who provided some assistance to Venezuela, will certainly take note. It's an example of Trump's unbridled power militarily, how he exercises it in deeply unexpected ways, and we'll learn in the days ahead too, whether this is recklessness.

We saw in Iran, a strike against nuclear facilities that appear for now, as far as we know, to have tempered that Iranian nuclear program. Are they going to see similar success in this? You might say, actions in Venezuela dubious, so much complexity for them to address in the days ahead. And this is an administration that often in the past, has shied away from the boring details of what comes after.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it's interesting. You mentioned Iran 24 hours ago. We are waking up to a social media post from the president talking about being locked and loaded against Iran based on their treatment of protesters there. Only to wake up this morning and to see that the U.S. has captured Nicolas Maduro.

We'll see from the president at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, just four hours away from now, if he has answers to those morning after questions.

Nick Paton Walsh, for us in London. Thanks so much.

Joining us now, CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak. Kevin, I understand you have some new details on how this operation unfolded. What do you know?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and what we are learning from people familiar is that the president gave the green light for this operation several days ago. It was carried out by the Army's Delta forces in Venezuela, who were tracking Maduro's location with the help of the CIA. And we know that the president had authorized the CIA to operate covertly in Venezuela some months ago.

And so, we are getting some more of a picture of what the president announced in that dramatic post at 4:21 a.m. this morning. I think, still, as Nick was pointing out, there are a lot of unanswered questions, and hopefully the president will provide some answers at his press conference at 11:00 a.m.

We do understand that Maduro is expected to stand to trial in the United States. That is the expect -- expectation of the administration. Of course, he was indicted in the Southern District of New York in 2020 on drug trafficking, corruption, racketeering charges. And so, that's the expectation here, and that had been kind of the rationale all along, as the U.S. was working to oust him from power.

You know, we've seen this pressure campaign on Maduro building for months and months. What you heard from Trump was a variety of different objectives, whether it was curbing the flow of drugs, curbing the flow of migrants, trying to enforce sanctions, trying to blockade the oil. Really the point of all of it, when you talked to officials behind the scenes, was to get Maduro out of power, because they viewed him as an illegitimate leader. And they have claimed that he's a narco-terrorist. They put sanctions on him under the auspices that he was the leader of a drug trafficking gang.

And so, as he is removed from Venezuela, we don't know his precise location, the ultimate objective is to try him, and that's according to people familiar with the matter.

What we don't know at this point is what the president's discussions with Congress were on this front. And I think you'll start to hear as the day breaks, some concerns among members of Congress that they were not consulted in this action. And certainly, the president, I think, will have to answer for that at 11:00 a.m.

That we also don't know at this point what if any resistance, Maduro put up when those army, Delta Forces, you know, arrived to where he was.

[07:10:06]

Was he willing to go? Was he ready to go? Or was some sort of fight put up? You know, there had been discussions very quietly about potentially finding, you know, a landing pad for Maduro, kind of a way for him to go and leave Venezuela and live in exile that the U.S. wasn't necessarily, you know, putting all of their weight behind, but there was talk of potentially allowing that.

So, the question, I think, that we will have for Trump is whether this was, you know, a forced ouster, or whether Maduro sort of put his hands up and went with those Delta forces.

You know, I think it's striking that the president has greenlit this move and has made this announcement. You know, some months ago, we did hear, you know, that the president did have some reservations about going in and trying to oust Maduro. There were concerns that potentially this could backfire in some way.

You know, he is also of the era who will remember mixed success in U.S. interventions in Latin America, particularly involving the CIA.

But I think this is just evidence this morning that the president seemed to have put some of those reservations aside, and is now, you know, very proudly proclaiming this as a successful mission. But still with plenty of questions remaining.

BLACKWELL: Plenty of questions and criticisms already coming in.

Kevin Liptak, thank you.

Let me read one here. This is from Senator Ruben Gallego. "I fought in some of the hardest battles of the Iraq War, saw my brothers die, saw civilians being caught in the cross fire, all for an unjustified war. No matter the outcome, we are in the wrong for starting this war in Venezuela."

He, Senator Gallego, putting this in context of a war, not clear how much information he had when he posted that, and it's not evident at all that there will be the U.S. ground troops at all to the scale of what we saw in Iraq, 20 plus years ago.

But we were already hearing from members of Congress, criticizing the president's decision.

Let me bring in now journalist Mary Mena, live in Venezuela's capital. Sun is up now, conditions have settled, but help us understand the scene earlier. We are seeing on the right of the screen, cell phone video, some of the explosions. What did you see and hear as those strikes were happening?

MARY MENA, CNN JOURNALIST AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we woke up with loud noises here in Caracas early in the morning, and most people didn't know what was going on. What was happening? But it was clear that something was happening, and it was big because of the detonations that we hear.

Also, we heard a lot of planes and helicopters flying over the city, but the detonations took place for about 45 minutes, and it was not a permanent town. It was something that kept happening for a couple of minutes and then started again.

And it was frightening for many Venezuelans that we are receiving even calls from abroad, from Venezuelans migrants that were living outside and were receiving more information that inside of the country.

Here, we learn from a statement released by the government, and they acknowledge the attack, they say is an aggression. The Maduro government saying that in a statement that is violating the U.N. chart, and also saying that they will declare a state of emergency. So far, since the 1:52 a.m. in the morning, with being receiving messages from several government officials such as Delcy Rodriguez, that is the vice president of Venezuela and the general attorney. They keep saying that they don't know where Nicolas Maduro is, and they are demanding a proof of life. That is a statement that they keep repeating.

And also, other members of the governments keep appearing on state television, saying the same. Proof of life of Nicolas Maduro.

Also, they are showing some images in the streets of Caracas. And the -- is not a normal Saturday in the city. It's quiet and not many cars or motorcycles in the main highways or streets of Caracas. Right now, they are showing some little images on the state television, saying that some infrastructure at the La Carlota Airport, which is nearby of this location where I'm standing, where damaged. Some busses of transportation and some military equipment.

[07:15:05]

But they don't say if there are victims in these kinetic attacks that took place. They only say that they took place in three key locations, Aragua, La Guaira, and Caracas.

BLACKWELL: Interesting, the message for domestic consumption that we're hearing from the Venezuelan governor there. Mary Mena, thank you so much.

Let's talk about what's happening here on the streets of the U.S., a reaction to the breaking news. Let's get some video here. This is just moments ago in Miami, Dade County, specifically, Doral, Florida, sometimes called Little Venezuela because of the high concentration of Venezuelans living there, celebrating the capture of Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife.

We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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[07:20:04]

More on the breaking news now. The U.S. has attacked Venezuela. And President Trump confirms on Truth Social that the U.S. carried out this large-scale strike overnight, and the President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores have been captured and flown out of the country.

The CNN has learned that President Trump gave the green light for the operation several days ago, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly told one senator that Maduro will stand trial in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges.

Maduro and several other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020. This was during the previous Trump administration. The Venezuelan government is calling the U.S. operation a grave military aggression.

CNN crews were first hand witnesses to a number of explosions in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, just before 1:00 a.m. And parts of the city are now without power. The Venezuelan government has declared a state of emergency, and says Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira were -- excuse me, La Guaira were all struck.

President Trump says that he'll deliver remarks about the Venezuelan operation from Mar-a-Lago at 11:00 Eastern.

Let's discuss this now with CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger, and General Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

General, let me start with you and your reaction to what we have seen overnight, the execution of this. Give us context of the planning that goes into it.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think this is something that's been planned or worked on for a long time. I think before the president authorized the strike, obviously, there was a period of intensive reconnaissance and planning. They had to -- we had to put people in on the ground. We had to confirm that we could track Maduro. We had to confirm how we would do this.

These operations were back briefed on probably two or three times to the national leadership before approval was given and the decision was made also not to do a small scale, but to do a larger scale strike, just to take out any possibility of immediate military action, either against the opposition or against U.S. forces offshore.

Now, what's happening is we are awaiting the reaction as Venezuela wakes up, recognizes this. Is the administration going to -- in Venezuela, going to still have control? Or was it all about Maduro in the first place? And with his disappearance, will the vice president and his people collapse? Will the army disband itself? Will the militia run for the hills?

This is a pretty convincing demonstration of American power, but it's a big country, and Maduro and his predecessor, Chavez, have been well dug in there for a long time. So, there are some questions about what will happen next.

But I think in addition, you have to take this as a clear demonstration of the incredible effectiveness of the American armed forces.

We went into Grenada in 1983. It wasn't quite this easy and clean. We went into Panama, 1989, took out Noriega. We didn't have to go into Haiti; we did that diplomatically in 1994. But over the intervening period in this war without end in Afghanistan and Iraq. We've gotten really, really good at these kinds of coordinated special operations, between the agency, Delta Force, Navy SEALs. We know what we are doing. We are very good at this.

Now, the question is, what's the aftermath? Can we handle what's happening next? We've got Mrs. Machado. She is safe. I'm sure we have done preparatory work with her. And with her lieutenants who would be in Caracas. I'm sure there is preparation going on to step forward with a democratic regime at some point soon.

BLACKWELL: David, before the social media post from the president this morning, I was expecting, I'm sure, many were expecting, the post would be the confirmation of the U.S. involvement, the claim of responsibility for what happened in Caracas overnight.

When I read THE word captured, that was a surprise. In hindsight, was there any indication that the administration would go this far in its next step after the CIA drone strike that we saw about little more than a week ago?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It's a great question, Victor. Back in November, when the military pressure was just stepping up, we were seeing the attacks on the drug boats and so forth.

[07:25:05]

We spent some time looking at the different options, and this was the first one. Although I say -- I would have to say that this one was executed much more quickly than I think people we were interviewing at the time had in mind.

The initial thought was, if you struck many of the military bases that were right around Caracas, that eventually, it would force Maduro to flee, and he would probably expose his whereabouts.

Here, they clearly knew exactly where he was, and so, the operation was really about making sure that they could get in and out cleanly with no interference from the Venezuelan military. And that's exactly what happened.

But as General Clark has suggested here, one of the things the U.S. does excellently is this kind of capture and extraction operation. What time has shown we don't do terribly well is managing the aftermath.

I mean, think about the enthusiasm when Saddam Hussein was captured. Right? And yet our ability to control, what's going on later on fell apart pretty quickly.

It's a big country. It obviously has this huge national asset in the world's largest oil reserves. President Trump has made his interest in that clear. And I think one of the -- one of the big traps here would be, if this looks like a power grab for the oil, you could then trigger a nationalist reaction, even from those who might be delighted to see Maduro go.

BLACKWELL: Yes. This also, from a president who, a decade ago now, was so critical of the Bush administration for not having a plan on what to do in Iraq after the launch of that war.

SANGER: That's right.

BLACKWELL: But you'll also remember the president said that his plan would have been to keep the oil after the end of that war.

Gentlemen, thank you very much. General Wesley Clark and David Sanger, appreciate the insight there.

Live look from Palm Beach, Florida. Mar-a-Lago, President Trump says we'll hear directly from him about these strikes later this morning, just a few hours out from that news conference. The latest we're hearing from the White House coming up after a short break.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

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[07:31:41]

BLACKWELL: Our "BREAKING NEWS" out of Venezuela this morning, President Trump confirms in a social media post this morning that the U.S. carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela. He said, President Nicolas Maduro and his wife have been captured and flown out of the country. President Trump said he'll speak at a news conference later this morning.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, told the GOP senator that Maduro will stand trial in the U.S.

CNN has learned that Trump gave the green light for the operation several days ago.

A source says the mission was carried out by the Army's Delta Force, and maduro's location was being tracked by the CIA.

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BLACKWELL (voice over): That explosions rocked Caracas, starting around 1:50 a.m., local time, knocked out power to some areas in the city.

The Venezuelan government has denounced the move. This move has a grave military aggression and is calling for a massive troop deployment.

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With me now from Washington, CNN national security reporter Haley Britzky. What more are you learning this morning?

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Victor, so this was just a really remarkable last few hours here, as more information has started to come out. And notably, as you just said, from CNN's Kevin Liptak, that the Delta Force is a highly selective, highly trained Special Forces of the U.S. military, carried out this operation. This is something they certainly have experience with, these kinds of extraction missions.

And while the president thanked the great, great troops that he said were a part of this operation, we don't yet have a lot of clarity on the other assets involved. Clearly, this was a lot of personnel, many aircraft involved in an operation like this. This is not something that comes together overnight. So, certainly, looking to get more information about what military assets were included.

We have some video that we have seen of dual rotor helicopters, meaning, Chinook helicopters that were flying over in the airspace over Caracas. And Chinook, helicopters, their heavy lift troop carriers, one of the things they specialize in is the insertion and extraction of U.S. personnel.

So, certainly aligns with what we've seen over the last few hours, with the capture that the president said of Nicolas Maduro. And, you know, it's important to zoom out here, Victor, and look at the bigger picture of U.S. military forces in the region leading up to this.

There is roughly 15,000 U.S. troops in the region, roughly a dozen warships around the area, in the Caribbean. D.C, -- the U.S. has deployed F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico.

So, this was kind of a long time coming in this buildup of U.S. forces really reinforcing the president and how serious he has been in talking about Maduro and Venezuela, and the pressure campaign the White House has been really instituting there.

So, a lot of questions still of what this looked like, how this came together. As Kevin reported, know, this was given the green light several days ago, and so, more questions about what the timing looked like, and how it was decided to carry out this operation last night. Certainly, we are going to be looking for more of those answers in the 11:00 a.m. press conference that the president is holding.

BLACKWELL: All right. Haley Britzky, thanks so much. And we just are seeing this post from the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, where he simply reposted something that he put on social media back in July, where he says, "Maduro is not the president of Venezuela, and his regime is not the legitimate government. Maduro is the head of the Cartel de los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken possession of a country, and he is under indictment for pushing drugs into the United States." [07:35:10]

BLACKWELL: Let's go down to CNN contributor, Stefano Pozzebon. He is been following the strikes and the escalations in Venezuela over the last several months. Stefano, hello to you.

The question here is, even with the telegraphing and forecasting from the White House, how much of a surprise is this to the Venezuelan people this morning?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, Victor, I think you can underestimate -- you cannot underestimate how much of a shock it is for the Venezuelan people.

Nicolas Maduro is an authoritarian leader that has been ruling with an iron fist. This country for pretty much the best part of the last 15 years, and he has survived one way or another, multiple attempts to dislodge him from power from street wide mass protests in 2014, 2017, or 2019 to an opposition that mounting a legal 2019 with the opposition leader Juan Guaido, swearing him as the opposition leader and the country's president.

And then, once again, just last year, with a presidential election that the opposition actually won and published documents that real -- that showed that the opposition had won in a landslide.

However, Maduro did not allow them to take power and remain in -- remain in his -- in his power in in the Palace of Miraflores. This is a huge surprise, not just for the Venezuelan community, but for everyone who is looking at Latin America for the last few weeks and months.

So, we understood that there was a pressure campaign to convince Maduro to give way, one way or the other, to as Trump would say, go away, simply disappear. Well, now, it really seems that the U.S. president has decided to give the green light and go after Nicolas Maduro himself.

And, by the way, this is the worst possible outcome for Maduro himself. He is a -- you know, he is -- he is namely, a left winger, revolutionary leader who would have, perhaps, preferred to sacrifice himself or to die a heroic battle against the empire. He is now going to be charged in the United States as a drug trafficker, essentially, not so different from the likes of El Chapo Guzman, especially if you are going to see in the next few hours and days the image of Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in handcuffs.

The Attorney General of the United States Pam Bondi, just posted a few minutes ago on X that both the president of Venezuela and his wife have been indicted by the Southern District of New York on multiple charges, including narco-trafficking and narco-terrorism.

So, the idea of going after Maduro for narco-trafficker, as if it was a regular drug trafficker and not a sitting out of state, is perhaps what is adding most injury to the insult of Nicolas Maduro. Clearly a scenario that we would have never imagined. that 2026 will bring us. And it's only the second day of the year, by the way, Victor. Incredible how history is moving fast when it comes to Venezuela.

BLACKWELL: Thank you very much. Stefano Pozzebon. Thank you very much for that report.

I want to read a couple more statements here coming in from senators who are responding to this news as they are waking up across the country.

From Senator Tom Cotton, "I commend President Trump and our brave troops and law enforcement officers for this incredible operation."

We hear from Senator Andy Kim, Democrat of New Jersey. Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth looked every senator in the eye a few weeks ago, and said, this wasn't about regime change. I didn't trust them then, and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress."

We're mostly hearing from these long media and as we get them in, we'll share them with you the uncertainty this morning after the U.S. launched strikes on Venezuela, capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. We've heard from Stefano so many questions that Venezuelans will have. They are both under indictment here in the U.S.

We'll take a quick break and we'll explore more the consequences of what happened overnight. We'll be right back.

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[07:43:56]

BLACKWELL: All right. This morning, urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council. The country's foreign minister called the U.S. strike and capture of President Nicolas Maduro, cowardly. And we are standing by for any comment from the Venezuelan opposition, which is so far declined to speak on this incident.

And joining me now from London is CNN anchor and international correspondent Isa Soares. Isa, you have reported extensively from Venezuela, and we know that there are power outages and maybe some communication difficulties.

(CROSSTALK)

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BLACKWELL: But are you hearing from anyone inside the country?

SOARES: I am indeed. And you just came to me, you saw me looking down, because I have been contacting those people, not just in the center of Caracas further out. One person as far as about an hour from outside of Caracas. She also doesn't have any electricity at the moment, but this morning, as early this morning, of course, in Caracas people, there was palpable fear.

[07:45:02] One of my contacts, they fact, can tell you, sort of felt one of the strikes very close to his house. Luckily, his family weren't very close, were outside of the capital, but real palpable fear inside the country. I can tell you that.

There is also now a tense of calm since sun, of course, has risen. But people are fear. I've been -- a fearful people have been telling me, look, we want to celebrate -- we want to celebrate inside our homes, internally. But we also know that prior to December that Nicolas Maduro had given, put an out and order, very clear order, set to arrest those who are celebrating the downfall -- the potential downfall of his regime.

So, people afraid of just not only showing emotion of what they are saying, measuring very carefully their words. Sense of palpable fear as people don't know what happens next.

Delcy Rodriguez, the vice president says she is now in charge. But what exactly does that mean? Within the Venezuelan regime, there are factions, and while she says she is in charge, in order of course, of the Constitution, many fear that, potentially, Diosdado Cabello, who is the defense minister, that he is the one that's running the show. He is a strong figure -- strong military figure, and the fear is that many within the military generals, Victor, may have still control of Venezuela.

So, people do not want to go out on the streets. People do not want to show emotion, while many, I'll say, the overwhelming majority, want to celebrate this moment. After 13 years of Nicolas Maduro reigning over the country, people are fearful of what comes next, because the next few hours will be crucial here, Victor.

BLACKWELL: And to believe so that they are fearful, because so many of those questions have not been answered.

(CROSSTALK)

SOARES: Yes.

BLACKWELL: And we hope to get some information from the President at 11:00 Eastern here. But we also understand you spoke with Colombian President Gustavo Petro. What did he tell you?

SOARES: Look, I have spoken to Maria Corina Machado just last year. Of course, the priest -- the Nobel Peace Prize winner, waiting to hear back from her exactly. But what that means? Because she this is a moment she is looked forward to for a long, long time. And she even said, when she was in Oslo, you know, I'll be home soon, and so will you, telling a reporter. Maybe she knew what was coming just down there, just months down the road,

President Petro, I spoke to him an exclusive interview back in November of last year, I think, in November 26th. We sat down, and this was off the back of the -- of the fact that we are seeing these -- we have seen for several months, these targeted strikes on alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela, something that Colombia has been very concerned about.

And Petro -- Gustavo Petro, who is leaving office this year, he said to me that this is not about -- this is not President Trump wanting democracy in Venezuela. He very clearly said, they are going after their oils. They, the United States, that President Trump wasn't interested in narco-trafficking, that he wasn't interested in democratization of Venezuela. Instead, what he wanted was Venezuela's oil. Of course, Venezuela is well known to have the largest oil reserves in the world.

And so, him very much going after President Trump, the both have been a loggerhead for some time with the United States, of course, sanctioning him and certain members of his family. So, things ratcheting up. The Colombian military very concerned, Victor. Just before I wrap -- tell you, in the last few hours, I spoke to a source saying they are putting troops on the border, not only concerned about an influx, of course, of humanitarian reasons, of migrants, but also by the ELN, those drug operatives within Venezuela, and what impact they may have in this transition in the next few hours, this is going to be critical.

BLACKWELL: Something else to watch. Issa Soares for us. Thank you so much.

Attorney General, Pam Bondi says Nicolas Maduro will soon face the full wrath of the American justice on American soil, in American courts, after he was arrested in Venezuela.

We'll hear from the president later this morning about the arrest and the strikes in Venezuela. More of the "BREAKING NEWS" after the break.

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[07:53:23]

BLACKWELL: Attorney General Pam Bondi says Nicolas Maduro will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil, in American courts. The Trump administration has long accused Nicolas Maduro of running a criminal enterprise. Maduro was first indicted back in 2020 on narco-terrorism and cocaine trafficking charges.

The U.S. accused Maduro of heading a cartel the government labeled a foreign terrorist organization.

Now, overnight, a GOP senator said that he was told by the secretary of state that the military strike was done to protect U.S. troops executing the Maduro arrest warrant.

State department Reporter Jennifer Hansler joins us now from Washington, D.C. Jennifer, good morning to you. What do you know?

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Victor, they have really been laying the groundwork, as you noted, for a long time, to pursue legal action in the United States against Maduro.

Going back to Trump's first term, back in March 2020, his justice department indicted Nicolas Maduro and a number of his associates for what they called narco-terrorism, cocaine trafficking, a number of other charges, and they had a bounty on Maduro for his arrest for $15 million.

Now, in the last days of the Biden administration, they actually upped that bounty to $25 million. But since the Trump administration has taken office, they have built that pressure even further to see Maduro leave power and to see him prosecuted here in the United States.

They upped that bounty to $50 million they declared the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. They have made claims that Nicolas Maduro is the leader of that cartel, and they have repeatedly said that he is a narco-terrorist. They have alleged that he is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela.

[07:55:03]

That his government is not the legitimate government for Venezuela. And of course, we saw all that culminate overnight with this really dramatic arrest with this military.

Of Venezuela that his government is not the legitimate government for Venezuela. And of course, we saw all that culminate overnight with this really dramatic arrest, with this military strike in Caracas in Venezuela to take him into justice.

We don't know right now where Nicolas Maduro is. We have just heard from the president that he is in U.S. custody. We don't know exactly where he is going to be prosecuted for these alleged crimes that he was indicted for some six years ago now.

But we do know that this is something that the Trump administration kept an eye on for a long, long time here, Victor.

BLACKWELL: The vice president there, asking for proof of life of Maduro and his wife. Russia now asking for immediate clarification on the U.S. claim of having captured Maduro and his wife.

Jennifer Hansler, thank you very much. We have more on our "BREAKING NEWS" at the top of the hour. President Trump will speak at 11:00 a.m. in a news conference from Mar-a-Lago. He's already confirmed the U.S. strike in Venezuela and that Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife have been captured. We'll be right back.

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