Donald Trump says US is ‘in charge’ after abducting Venezuelan president

Donald Trump has claimed that the United States is 'in charge' after abducting Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro.

On Saturday (3 January), the US launched strikes on Venezuela in which Maduro - who has been widely condemned as an illegitimate leader - and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, were captured by US forces and removed from the country.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and Flores had been indicted in the Southern District of New York, with the pair charged with conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the US.

Bondi added in a social media post that Maduro 'will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts'.

Since September, US forces have killed more than 100 people in at least 30 strikes on boats accused of drug trafficking from Venezuela across the Caribbean and Pacific. Legal experts say the campaign likely breached both US and international law.

The Trump administration has described the strikes as attacks against terrorists attempting to bring fentanyl and cocaine to the States, however, the BBC reports, it has provided no evidence for this claim.

Following Maduro's capture, Trump said during a press conference that 'we’re in charge'.

"We’re going to run it, fix it," he said of Venezuela, while aboard Air Force One en route to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Trump added in a news conference: "The oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust for a long period of time.

"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."

While it is not yet clear exactly how the US plans to 'run' Venezuela, Trump did state it will be a 'group' of people leading the charge.

"We're going to be running it with a group, and we're going to make sure it's run properly," he said.

"We're going to rebuild the oil infrastructure, which will cost billions of dollars, it will be paid for by the oil companies directly. And we're going to get the oil flowing the way it should be."

Trump said 'we're designating various people'.

"It's largely going to be — for a period of time — the people who are standing right behind me," Mr. Trump said, pointing to US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "We're going to be running it, we're going to be bringing it back."

The president, asked by reporters about U.S. troops, said 'we're not afraid of boots on the ground' noting that 'we had boots on the ground last night'.

"We're there now, we're ready to go again if we have to," he added.

Experts in international law criticised the Trump administration for muddying the legal issues by claiming the operation was both a targeted law enforcement mission and the potential prelude to long-term control of Venezuela by the US, Reuters reports.

"You cannot say this was a law enforcement operation and then turn around and say now we need to run the country," said Jeremy Paul, a professor at Northeastern University specialising in constitutional law. "It just doesn't make any sense."

Maduro and his wife will appear in federal court at noon on Monday (5 January), according to a spokesperson for the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York.