Maduro's capture comes exactly 35 years after U.S. arrested Panama's Noriega

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/live-updates/venezuela-us-military-strikes-maduro-trump/

President Trump announced the capture of Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro early Saturday morning 35 years to the day after U.S. forces arrested another indicted Latin American leader, the late Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.

GOP senator says Rubio told him "no further action in Venezuela" expected

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said early Saturday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told him he "anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody."

In a post on X, Lee said he spoke with Rubio on the phone. He said he was told Maduro was arrested, "to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States," and "the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant."

Chinas oil from Venezuela just got cut off and we did it while a Chinese delegation was in town meeting with Maduro lol.

🚨 TRUMP SENDS STRONG MESSAGE TO CHINA’S XI JINPING AS CHINESE DELEGATION IS STILL IN VENEZUELA AFTER MEETINGS WITH MADURO TODAY 🚨

Just hours before US Airstrikes in Venezuela past midnight today , @NicolasMaduro met with a Chinese delegation led by Qiu Xiaoqi, China's Special… https://t.co/4Ol5q2k9lm pic.twitter.com/uzaFsiRI6P

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) January 3, 2026

Interesting to just go after Maduro and not take down the rest of the administration. Regime change is not on the table it seems.

jkpackfan said:

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Chinas oil from Venezuela just got cut off and we did it while a Chinese delegation was in town meeting with Maduro lol.

🚨 TRUMP SENDS STRONG MESSAGE TO CHINA’S XI JINPING AS CHINESE DELEGATION IS STILL IN VENEZUELA AFTER MEETINGS WITH MADURO TODAY 🚨

Just hours before US Airstrikes in Venezuela past midnight today , @NicolasMaduro met with a Chinese delegation led by Qiu Xiaoqi, China's Special… https://t.co/4Ol5q2k9lm pic.twitter.com/uzaFsiRI6P

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) January 3, 2026

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Boss move by President Trump

Gulfstream4 said:

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hokiewolf said:

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Interesting to just go after Maduro and not take down the rest of the administration. Regime change is not on the table it seems.

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Why? That would take much more time and put more people at risk. With Maduro out of office the others will be working with the U.S. to get the best deal they can.

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Appears Trump followed the same playbook as Noriega in 1989. Extracted Maduro who will go through a criminal trial in the US.

TheStorm said:

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jkpackfan said:

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And for my next trick I will make democrats support a criminal dictator and be against the restoration of democracy to Venezuela.

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"Mr. Neutral" just got his first negative comment in…

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Of course he did. He's probably an expert on regime change too. Just ask him.

jkpackfan said:

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And for my next trick I will make democrats support a criminal dictator and be against the restoration of democracy to Venezuela.

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Lol. So spot on. I hope these minions live long enough to realize what fools they were.

ABSOLUTE CINEMA pic.twitter.com/V1LTF3PxyB

— Jesús Enrique Rosas - The Body Language Guy (@Knesix) January 3, 2026

Gulfstream4 said:

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hokiewolf said:

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Interesting to just go after Maduro and not take down the rest of the administration. Regime change is not on the table it seems.

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Why? That would take much more time and put more people at risk. With Maduro out of office the others will be working with the U.S. to get the best deal they can.

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I don't think that's is likely with the minister of the interior, who in reading some articles this morning we tried to kill but didn't, is probably now in charge, but we'll see. I'm hopeful. It was a surprising move this morning but a good one.

President Trump to speak around 11am from Mar-a-Lago

I'm not for regime change, but this guy is a terrorist, and he supports terrorists. That being said, to get the rightful elected leaders of Venezuela in power will take intervention from the US

Perpetrating digital election theft has consequences as do running drugs into the US and killing & maiming American citizens.

Thought this was interesting in the press conference. Have to wonder if that will involve troops?

Two hours ago members of the Trump administration were saying that the Maduro strike was "not regime change--this is justice." Now POTUS says the US will run Venezuela until regime "transition." https://t.co/NPaVG1K8Js

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) January 3, 2026

hokiewolf said:

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Thought this was interesting in the press conference. Have to wonder if that will involve troops?

Two hours ago members of the Trump administration were saying that the Maduro strike was "not regime change--this is justice." Now POTUS says the US will run Venezuela until regime "transition." https://t.co/NPaVG1K8Js

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) January 3, 2026

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Hokie did you watch the news conference? Your President Trump was talking about not letting other members of Maduro's cabinet take over where he left off.

DrummerboyWolf said:

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Gulfstream4 said:

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U.S. Captures Venezuelan Leader, Trump Says

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/03/world/trump-united-states-strikes-venezuela

President Trump said on Saturday that the United States had captured the Venezuelan president, Nicols Maduro, and was flying him out of Venezuela, in what would be a stunning culmination to a monthslong campaign by Mr. Trump's administration to oust the authoritarian leader.

- - - -
Developing story

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I was just getting ready to post this before I head out of town.

If I were the mullahs in Iran, I would be worried.

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It's a message, certainly.

GrillOut said:

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I'm not for regime change, but this guy is a terrorist, and he supports terrorists. That being said, to get the rightful elected leaders of Venezuela in power will take intervention from the US

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This is what I want to see. Venezuela as it was, pre-Maduro. Caracas swarmed with beautiful women, I'd like to go there someday.

packgrad said:

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Programming initiated.

It’s not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn’t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month.

It’s about oil and regime change.

And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn’t. Especially to distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 3, 2026

Truly pathetic how democrats are. They only care about opposing Trump. Just a retched people.

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It really must be exhausting being a liberal.

One day you're defending Somali daycare fraudsters.

The next day you're defending a narco-terrorist communist dictator.

And it's all driven by one thing:
their hatred of Donald Trump.

hokiewolf said:

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Thought this was interesting in the press conference. Have to wonder if that will involve troops?

Two hours ago members of the Trump administration were saying that the Maduro strike was "not regime change--this is justice." Now POTUS says the US will run Venezuela until regime "transition." https://t.co/NPaVG1K8Js

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) January 3, 2026

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I am not a fan of us running the country but I understand it. I hope its very brief

I was briefed this morning on the U.S. military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, as well as their planned imprisonment in federal custody here in New York City.

Unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and…

— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) January 3, 2026

The Venezuelans in NY are celebrating.

Unsurprising that the Communist leader of NYC is standing with his Venezuelan comrade.

packgrad said:

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Programming initiated.

It’s not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn’t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month.

It’s about oil and regime change.

And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn’t. Especially to distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 3, 2026

Truly pathetic how democrats are. They only care about opposing Trump. Just a retched people.

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Democrats hate this country