EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Raid – Trump Reveals ‘Fortress’ Breach and Delta Force Bum Rush that Captured Maduro

In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with “Fox & Friends Weekend,” President Donald Trump provided stunning, minute-by-minute details of the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, revealing the Venezuelan leader was apprehended in a heavily fortified “fortress”-like house where he “got bum rushed so fast” by American special forces. Trump described huddling with top generals in a Mar-a-Lago situation room, watching as the “extremely complex” mission—led by the U.S. Army’s elite Delta Force with CIA intelligence support—unfolded after a four-day weather delay. The president detailed how forces, equipped with massive blowtorches for hardened steel doors and safe rooms, stormed the compound so swiftly that Maduro was unable to seal himself inside his ultimate defensive space.

Trump confirmed that Maduro and his wife were swiftly extracted by helicopter to the USS Iwo Jima and are en route to New York to face a federal indictment on narco-terrorism charges. The president reported no U.S. fatalities during the operation, noting that while “a couple of guys were hit,” they are expected to recover. When pressed on Venezuela’s political future, Trump stated, “We’re making that decision now,” emphasizing that the U.S. cannot allow a successor to continue Maduro’s regime and aims to establish “liberty for the people.” He framed the mission as a critical strike against out-of-control drug trafficking, asserting, “We’re saving lives,” and that the Venezuelan people, freed from a brutal dictatorship, “love the United States.”