Morning Wire - BREAKING: U.S. Captures Venezuelan Dictator Maduro | 1.3.26

Episode Date: January 3, 2026

President Trump addresses the nation after the U.S. launches a surprise strike against Venezuela, capturing dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife–both of whom now face narco-terrorism charges in New York. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. - - - Ep. 2561 - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 - - - Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy morning wire,morning wire podcast,the morning wire podcast,Georgia Howe,John Bickley,daily wire podcast,podcast,news podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Late last night and early today at my direction, the United States Armed Forces, conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela. The United States carried out a large-scale military strike on Venezuela early Saturday morning, capturing President Nicholas Maduro and his wife. Both of them now face serious charges, including narco-terrorism. conspiracy. I'm Daily Wire, executive editor John Bickley. This is a special breaking news edition of Morning Wire. Early Saturday morning, President Trump announced that Maduro and his wife had been captured by U.S. forces and flown out of the country. Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret O'Lehann joins us now with the latest, say, Mary Margaret. So a dramatic turn of events here in some ways not surprising because of the escalation over the last few weeks between Venezuela and

U.S. But all of us woke up this morning with this remarkable news. So what is the latest? Yeah, John, like you said, not entirely shocking, but still takes a breath away. Early this morning, several explosions could be heard in Venezuela's capital city of Caracas. Venezuela's official soon confirmed that they'd been hit with strikes, saying civilian and military localities of the capital and three states were hit in the attack. At least four locations appear to have been targeted. Venezuela's largest military base and air base, a port north of Caracas and an airport east of Caracas. Now, President Donald Trump confirmed the strikes around 3 a.m.

And also announced a press conference that we'll hear from in a second. Then by about 6 a.m., Attorney General Pam Bondi issued her own statement detailing charges against Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores. The two have been indicted in the Southern District of New York for narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns. and destructive devices against the United States. Now, as we've been documenting on this show,

there has been a rapid escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela over first drug boats and then oil shipments. The U.S. had seized two oil takers off the coast of Venezuela, and Trump had repeatedly demanded that Maduro stepped down or faced more consequences. The last we heard from Maduro, he was desperately trying to claim that he was, quote,

ready to talk about an agreement to combat drug trafficking. All right, but clearly too little, too late from Maduro. Apparently. And this brings us to Trump's press conference. What did we hear from him? Right. So just before noon, President Trump addressed the nation from Mar-a-Lago.

First, he stressed that we lost no soldiers in the operation, and he touted the United States' military expertise and carrying it out. In fact, he said, the mission was so successful that while they'd planned for a second set of even stronger strikes, it doesn't appear to be necessary. This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American. military might and competence in American history, it was dark and it was deadly. The first attack was so successful, we probably don't have to do a second, but we're prepared. He forcefully made the case for the strikes, blaming Maduro for Trenta Aragua flooding into the United States. That group's been designated a foreign terrorist organization by his administration. And as the indictment against Maduro lays out, the administration sees him as

the key player in narco-terrorism operations from Venezuela into the United States. As for what will happen in the coming days in Venezuela, the president said the U.S. is going to effectively run the country as it transitions to a new government that will be legitimate, unlike Maduro's. We're 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 can't take a chance at somebody else.

takes over Venezuela that doesn't have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind. We're not going to let that happen. The president wrapped up his remarks by really hammering home the message to the rest of the Western Hemisphere that the U.S. is going to reassert the Monroe Doctrine, stating that we won't passively stand by if our citizens or our interests are threatened by other countries. The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we've superseded it by a lot, by a real lot. they now caught the Don Road document. We sort of forgot about it.

We don't forget about it anymore. Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western atmosphere, will never be questioned again. Now we're starting to see some of the fallout from this. What are we hearing from other countries? Yes, so we've already gotten some responses from other world leaders.

Brazil's left-wing president, Lula de Silva, slammed the U.S., saying the operation crossed an unacceptable line. He's calling for the U.N. to respond. vigorously. And on that note, the UN's initial response has been rather tepid. It's called this a dangerous precedent, but nothing much else yet from them. Then there's China. Chinese officials were in Venezuela meeting with Maduro just hours before the attack. They said they are, quote, deeply shocked and strongly condemned the United States for, quote, hegemonic acts. But on the other side, you have those who are very happy with it, including Argentina's conservative president

Javier Millet. He praised Trump's actions and called this a, quote, decisive advance against narco-terrorism. And then there's Maria Carino Mojado, a Venezuelan opposition leader who recently fled the country. She posted a statement celebrating the capture of Maduro saying to her fellow Venezuelans that, quote, the hour of liberty has arrived. A massive development here that really changes the equation in the Western Hemisphere, particularly when it comes to drug trafficking from our southern neighbors. We'll have much more on this on Monday. In the meantime, Mary Margaret, thank you so much for reporting. Thanks for having me. And as always, for the latest on this developing story,

go to dailywire.com for updates. This has been a special breaking news edition of Morning Wire.