NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
President Donald Trump recounted the military’s strength during the successful operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro during an event in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Friday honoring U.S. special forces and their families for their roles in the capture.
“It was in a matter of minutes before (Maduro) was on a helicopter being taken out of there. They had to go through steel doors,” Trump said Friday afternoon. “The steels were like it was like papier-maché. You know what papier-maché is? That’s weak paper.”
U.S. special operations forces carried out the successful capture of Maduro and his wife on sweeping narcotics charges. Trump celebrated that the mission did not kill any U.S. military personnel or damage U.S. military equipment in a nation that is heavily militarized, with Maduro himself living on a protected military base.
STATE DEPT CONFIRMS ‘LIMITED NUMBER’ OF PERSONNEL IN CARACAS WORKING TO RESUME VENEZUELA DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, left, waits for President Donald Trump to speak during a visit to the Army base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Feb. 13, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
“These guys blasted through every door,” Trump continued Friday. “They got up to him before he got to the big safe. But that wouldn’t have worked either, because they had equipment that was going to knock that out in a matter of minutes, but he never got there. It went so fast.”
Trump continued that the operation was “precise” and “incredible.”
HEGSETH SIGNS OFF ON WOUNDED US TROOPS KEEPING BULLETS, SHRAPNEL REMOVED FROM THEIR BODIES AFTER MADURO RAID
“Think of it in a matter of minutes,” he continued. “When people realize what happened, they’re looking up and there’s the helicopter heading back to the aircraft carriers. So that night, the entire world saw what the full military might the U.S. military is capable of. And that was an unbelievable operation, but that was a smaller operation.”
Captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arrives at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, New York, Jan. 5, 2026. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
WIFE OF FORMER AMERICAN DETAINEE RELEASED AFTER MORE THAN A YEAR IN VENEZUELAN PRISON
Maduro was whisked off on a helicopter, before he was brought to the U.S., where he faces federal charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-trafficking conspiracy and weapons-related offenses. He’s being held in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump traveled to North Carolina Feb. 13, 2026, to meet with military members after the capture of Venezuela’s Maduro. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
First lady Melania Trump joined the president on the trip to North Carolina, with Trump joking that they enjoy the area so much, they might move there in the future.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“Maybe I’ll maybe I’ll move here with our great movie star,” Trump quipped, giving a nod to Melania Trump’s new documentary, “Melania.” “We’ll move here with our first lady. We’ll move to Fort Bragg. Would you like that, darling? She loves you. It’s a possibility.”
