Fact-checking Trump following US ‘capture’ of Venezuela’s Maduro

United States President Donald Trump said that a US subject battle succeeded successful capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, some facing US charges related to cocaine trafficking nether recently unsealed indictments.

In a January 3 quality league astatine Mar-a-Lago, Trump said the US would “run the country until specified clip arsenic we tin bash a safe, due and judicious transition”.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3Democrats slam ‘illegal’ US onslaught connected Venezuela, ‘capture’ of Maduro
• list 2 of 3Trump says US volition ‘run’ Venezuela aft Nicolas Maduro seized
• list 3 of 3‘Act of war’: Expert rejects Trump rationale for Venezuela attack

Trump besides said that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn successful arsenic interim president. The US president said Rodríguez had talked to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and was “essentially consenting to bash what we deliberation is indispensable to marque Venezuela large again”.

However, Rodríguez criticised the US subject enactment arsenic “brutal aggression” connected authorities tv and called for Maduro’s contiguous release.

Maduro has led Venezuela since 2013, succeeding an ideological ally, Hugo Chavez, who had been successful bureau since 1999. Under some men, US relations with Venezuela frayed implicit overseas policy, lipid and quality rights.

In July 2024, Maduro declared triumph aft an predetermination that planetary observers described arsenic fraudulent. The country’s absorption candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, reportedly received astir 70 percent of the vote.

Tensions betwixt Trump and Maduro escalated successful September aft the US authorities began attacking vessels disconnected the seashore of Venezuela, sidesplitting much than 100 people, successful what Trump described arsenic an effort to thwart cause smuggling.

When a newsman asked Trump during the Mar-a-Lago media lawsuit whether helium had spoken to Venezuelan absorption person Maria Corina Machado pursuing Maduro’s arrest, Trump said that Machado “doesn’t person the enactment oregon the respect wrong the country”.

Machado, who precocious won the Nobel Peace Prize for her combat for ideology successful Venezuela, had a 72 percent support standing from Venezuelans successful a March 2025 canvass by ClearPath Strategies.

Trump said, without evidence, that the US’s relation successful governing Venezuela “won’t outgo america anything” due to the fact that US lipid companies would put successful caller infrastructure successful the oil-rich country. “It’s going to marque a batch of money,” helium said.

PolitiFact fact-checked Trump’s and Rubio’s statements from the quality conference.

Rubio: “It’s conscionable not the benignant of ngo that you tin pre-notify [Congress about] due to the fact that it endangers the mission.”

The Trump administration’s deficiency of informing to Congress bucks laws and precedents. 

Rubio said that members of Congress were not notified successful beforehand of the US actions connected Venezuela. Trump said the medication was acrophobic astir Congress perchance leaking quality of the administration’s determination to seizure Maduro.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, praised the cognition arsenic a “decisive action”.

But Congressional Democrats said that Congress should person been notified successful advance. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, said, “Maduro is terrible. But Trump enactment American servicemembers astatine hazard with this unauthorised attack.”

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, said Trump and his furniture were not forthcoming astir their intentions for authorities alteration successful Venezuela, truthful “we are near with nary knowing of however the medication is preparing to mitigate risks to the US, and we person nary accusation regarding a semipermanent strategy pursuing today’s bonzer escalation”.

The US Constitution assigns Congress the close to state war. The past clip this happened was during World War II.

Since then, presidents person mostly initiated subject enactment utilizing their constitutionally granted powers arsenic commander-in-chief without an authoritative declaration of war.

Since Congress passed the 1973 War Powers Resolution, the president has had to study to Congress wrong 48 hours of introducing the US subject into hostilities, and terminate the usage of the subject wrong 60 days unless Congress approves. If support is not granted and the president deems it an emergency, an further 30 days are granted for ending operations.

In caller decades, legislature consent has usually been granted done an authorisation for the usage of subject force. But specified an authorisation has not been passed for operations successful Venezuela. Kaine and different lawmakers person pursued authorities – truthful acold fruitlessly –  to prohibit the usage of national funds for immoderate usage of subject unit successful oregon against Venezuela without legislature authorisation.

The Trump medication has whittled distant astatine anterior notification requirements. Under national law, 8 bipartisan elder members of Congress indispensable person anterior announcement of peculiarly delicate covert actions. In June 2025, the medication told Republicans, but not Democrats, astir a forthcoming US onslaught connected Iranian atomic facilities. For the Venezuela operation, it appears nary lawmakers were notified successful advance.

Trump: Each US vessel onslaught disconnected the seashore of Venezuela saves 25,000 people

The Trump medication has struck astatine slightest 32 vessels, killing about 115 people, successful the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean since September. Trump said antecedently that the boats were carrying drugs en way to the US, and during the quality conference, helium said the drugs connected each vessel would termination “on average, 25,000 people”.

However, experts connected drugs and Venezuela told PolitiFact that the state plays a insignificant relation successful trafficking drugs that scope the US. And the medication has provided nary grounds astir the benignant oregon quantity of drugs it says were connected the boats. This deficiency of accusation makes it intolerable to cognize however galore lethal doses of the drugs could person been destroyed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 73,000 US cause overdose deaths from May 2024 to April 2025. This means that the drugs connected 32 boats, which would person killed 800,000 radical based connected Trump’s claim, would beryllium liable for astir 11 times the fig of US overdose deaths successful 1 year.

Trump: “Maduro sent savage and murderous gangs, including the bloodthirsty situation pack Tren de Aragua, to terrorise American communities nationwide.”

There is nary grounds that Maduro sent members of the Venezuelan situation pack Tren de Aragua to the US.

The US Justice Department indictment against Maduro does not notation Trump’s statement.

An April study from the US National Intelligence Council contradicted Trump’s statements astir links betwixt Maduro and Tren de Aragua.

“While Venezuela’s permissive situation enables [Tren de Aragua, oregon TDA] to operate, the Maduro authorities astir apt does not person a argumentation of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA question to and operations successful the United States,” the study said.

Trump: Venezuela ‘stole’ US lipid successful the past.

[We astir apt request an italics connection present astir the verdict?]

In the aboriginal 20th century, Venezuela’s long-serving hardline leader, Juan Vicente Gomez, allowed overseas companies astir exclusive entree to the country’s lipid resources.

In 1975, aft decades of seeking greater power of its lipid resources, Venezuela nationalised its lipid industry.

“Trump’s assertion that Venezuela has stolen lipid and onshore from the US is baseless,” Francisco Rodríguez, a Venezuelan economist astatine the University of Denver, told The Washington Post. “The US was overmuch much funny successful having Venezuela beryllium a supplier of lipid — comparatively inexpensive lipid — than to person a accumulation illness successful Venezuela,” Rodríguez added.

As a result, the alteration was “relatively uncontroversial” astatine the time, helium said.

US lipid companies, including Exxon and Mobil arsenic good arsenic Gulf, present Chevron, mislaid astir $5bn each successful assets, and were compensated $1bn each, according to quality reports, The Washington Post reported.

But Rodríguez said the companies did not propulsion for further compensation astatine the time, successful portion due to the fact that nary forum existed to bash so.

In general, experts person told PolitiFact that invading a state to instrumentality its lipid would beryllium some amerciable and unethical. In 2016, Trump mused astir however the US should person taken Iraq’s lipid erstwhile it invaded to region its then-leader, Saddam Hussein.

Experts pointed to the annex to The Hague Convention of 1907 connected the Laws and Customs of War, which says that “private spot … indispensable beryllium respected [and] cannot beryllium confiscated”. It besides says that “pillage is formally forbidden”.

“If ‘to the victors spell the spoils’ was ineligible doctrine, past we would person believed that [Saddam Hussein] should person been capable to support Kuwait City aft helium invaded [Kuwait]” successful 1990, coercion expert Daveed Gartenstein-Ross told PolitiFact successful 2016. “But we viewed that — rather rightly — arsenic an enactment of aggression nether the UN Charter.”