President Donald Trump will hold a news conference Saturday after announcing the United States hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” early Saturday and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
Trump’s news conference, from his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, is expected to begin at 11 a.m. EST. Watch live in the player above.
Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of the country after months of stepped-up pressure by Washington, an extraordinary nighttime operation announced by Trump on social media hours after the attack.
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.
Maduro and his wife, captured overnight from their home, were being transported via a U.S. warship to New York, where they were to face criminal charges. The U.S. is now evaluating next steps for Venezuela, Trump said Saturday on Fox News, “We’ll be involved in it very much.”
This story is developing and will be updated.
READ MORE: U.S. strikes Venezuela and says leader Maduro has been captured and flown out of the country
