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“You know, that we had nobody killed was amazing,” Trump said, adding that a “couple of guys were hit, but they came back and they’re supposed to be in pretty good shape.”
With Maduro removed, Trump shifted focus to what comes next for Venezuela. He made it clear that the United States will not simply topple a regime and walk away.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” the president said.
Trump warned that allowing remnants of the Maduro regime to reassert control would undo everything the operation accomplished. He stressed that stability and order must come before elections or handovers of power.
“So we are 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 want peace, liberty and justice for the great people of Venezuela,” he said.
Trump also confirmed that U.S. troops are already on the ground and will remain there for the foreseeable future to maintain security and prevent chaos.
“We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” the president said bluntly.
One of the most consequential parts of Trump’s announcement involved Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, which were once among the most productive in the world but have since fallen into disrepair under decades of socialist mismanagement.
Trump said American energy companies will play a central role in rebuilding the sector.
“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”
According to Trump, the plan is designed to restore Venezuela’s economy while also ensuring that American workers, investors, and taxpayers see real benefits. He argued that revitalizing oil production would generate revenue, create jobs, and stabilize global energy markets.
The president also pointed to history to justify the move.
Before Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in 1976 under President Carlos Andrés Pérez, American companies such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips were instrumental in developing the nation’s energy infrastructure. At the time, U.S. firms were compensated roughly $1 billion for seized assets, a settlement largely accepted by all parties.
That changed under Hugo Chávez.
In 2007, Chávez’s socialist government seized major projects in the Orinoco Belt without providing fair compensation. Companies including ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron were hit hard. The move triggered years of international legal battles, with ExxonMobil eventually winning $1.6 billion in arbitration and ConocoPhillips continuing to pursue claims worth billions.
Trump and senior advisers have repeatedly framed those seizures as a historic injustice.
Stephen Miller and others have described them as “the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property” ever carried out by a foreign government.
Trump echoed that view during a recent briefing.
“They took all of our oil not that long ago. And we want it back. They illegally took it.”
With Maduro now in custody and U.S. forces securing the country, Trump appears determined to reverse what he sees as decades of theft, corruption, and socialist collapse.
For supporters, the announcement marks a bold assertion of American strength, accountability, and economic realism. For critics, it signals a seismic shift in U.S. foreign policy.
Either way, Trump has once again rewritten the rules of global power politics, and the world is watching.
