President Donald Trump said Saturday the United States will “run” Venezuela until what he called a safe leadership transition can take place.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago. He added that the U.S. “doesn’t want to be involved” in installing a new leader who could replicate what he described as years of instability.
Trump also said U.S. oil companies would spend billions of dollars in Venezuela to repair infrastructure and help the country earn revenue, describing the nation’s systems as “badly broken.”
His remarks came hours after what Trump described as an overnight U.S. military raid in Venezuela. Trump claimed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, were captured during the operation and were being taken to New York to face trial.
Trump said they would face multiple charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy and cocaine importation conspiracy against the United States
