By WILL WEISSERT and ALLEN G. BREED Associated Press
President Trump used a Fort Bragg appearance on Friday to praise U.S. Special Forces for last month's raid that removed Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro. But his visit also felt at times more like a political rally than an official trip to fete the military. Trump even called Michael Whatley, a Republican Senate candidate in North Carolina, to the stage. Trump also told troops and their families that the operation against Maduro shows America's true military might, and makes enemies fear the U.S. The president mentioned sending a second aircraft carrier group to the Middle East amid tensions with Iran and said that the U.S. is "feared" by potential enemies.
By MATTHEW LEE, STEPHEN GROVES and JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has given a full-throated defense of President Donald Trump's military operation to oust and arrest then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Rubio also used his wide-ranging congressional testimony Wednesday to touch on Greenland, NATO, Iran and China. In the first public hearing since the Jan. 3 intervention to depose Maduro, Rubio said Trump had acted to take out a major U.S. national security threat in the Western Hemisphere. Rubio said America was safer and more secure as a result and that the Republican administration would work with interim authorities to stabilize the South American country.
By JOSHUA GOODMAN and ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press
Venezuelan opposition leader MarÃa Corina Machado says she's confident of her country's eventual transition to democracy after the U.S. military ousted former President Nicolás Maduro. But when pressed, she took pains to avoid giving details on her plans to return home or any timetable for elections in Venezuela. Her remarks on Friday reflect how President Donald Trump's endorsement of a Maduro loyalist to lead Venezuela for now has frozen out the nation's Nobel Peace Prize-winning crusader for democracy. Still, Machado has looked to get closer to Trump, presenting her Nobel medal to him a day earlier at the White House.
Venezuela's acting President Delcy RodrÃguez says lawmakers in her country should approve reforms to the oil industry that would open the doors to greater foreign investment. The remarks were made Thursday during her first state of the union speech. She addressed an anxious country as she navigates competing pressures from the United States and a government loyal to former President Nicolás Maduro, who was ousted by U.S. forces less than two weeks ago. The speech to the country's National Assembly, which wasn't being broadcast live in Venezuela, comes one day after RodrÃguez said her government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro in what she described as "a new political moment."
By REGINA GARCIA CANO and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press
Updated
The United States hit Venezuela with a "large-scale strike" and said its president, Nicolás Maduro, had been captured and flown out of the country after months of stepped-up pressure by Washington. It was an extraordinary nighttime operation announced by President Donald Trump on social media hours after the attack. Multiple explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas as Maduro's government immediately accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations. The government called it an "imperialist attack" and urged citizens to take to the streets. It was not immediately clear who was running the country, and Maduro's whereabouts were not immediately known.
