U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a press conference after the capture of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro, Washington, D.C., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. Credit: JIM WATSON / Getty Images

Jan 3, 2026 / 12:56 pm (CNA).

U.S. President Donald Trump on Jan. 3 said the United States would "run" Venezuela until a replacement for President Nicolás Maduro can be found, with the U.S. leader vowing a "safe, proper, and judicious transition" after American forces arrested Maduro and brought him to New York State for indictment.

The U.S. launched strikes in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Jan. 3 before capturing Maduro and transporting him to the U.S., where he was indicted on drug and weapons charges in a New York district court.

In a press conference on Jan. 3, Trump revealed that the U.S. would "run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition."

"We don't want to be involved with having somebody else get in and [then] we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years," Trump said, emphasizing: "We are going to run the country."

The president alleged that the Maduro regime in Venezuela "emptied out their prisons [and] sent their worst and most violent monsters into the United States."

He referenced the June 2024 killing of Jocelyn Nungaray, who was raped and strangled in Texas allegedly by two Venezuelan immigrants in the country illegally.

Asked how long the U.S. would be in charge of Venezuela, Trump said: "I'd like to do it quickly." He said such operations take "a lot of time."

He described the country’s infrastructure as in poor shape. “We’re going to take a lot of money out so that we can take care of the country,” he said

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the press conference praised the soldiers who carried out the Venezuelan operation early on Jan. 3, describing them as the "elite of America."

"Our adversaries remain on notice," Hesgeth said. "America can project our will anywhere, anytime."

National leaders in Latin America expressed condemnation of the U.S. operations in Venezuela on Jan. 3, with executives in Colombia, Brazil and elsewhere warning of U.S. aggression and regional instability after the strikes.

The bishops of Venezuela, meanwhile, said they are in prayer and communicating with each other amid the ongoing incident.