Hours after a dramatic military operation ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power and removed him from the country Saturday, President Donald Trump said the United States would “run” Venezuela at least temporarily and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.

U.S. operations on Saturday represented America’s most assertive action to achieve regime change in a country since the nation’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. The actions raise stark new questions about the legality of the U.S. moves under a broader campaign against the South American nation.

The middle-of-the-night seizure of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were transported on a U.S. warship and arrived in New York Saturday evening to face narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, is beyond even the most high-profile historical examples of aggressive American actions toward autocratic governments in Panama, Iraq and beyond, legal experts said. It came after a surprise U.S. incursion into the Venezuelan capital, rocked with overnight explosions early Saturday.

The Trump administration described the operation — and earlier deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea — as necessary to stem the flow of dangerous drugs.

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Here’s what we know:

  • Capture follows months of pressure: The operation was the culmination of a push inside the administration led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other like-minded foes of Maduro who have been urging Trump to take action against the Venezuelan leader for years.
  • Trump says U.S. officials such as Rubio, Hegseth and Caine will run Venezuela: Trump claimed the U.S. government would help run the country and was already doing so, though there were no immediate signs of that. When asked during a press conference who would be running the country until a transition of power can take place, Trump said, “the people that are standing right behind me” are going to be running it “for a period of time.”
  • How the US captured Maduro: Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at Trump’s news conference that U.S. forces had rehearsed their maneuvers for months, learning everything about Maduro — where he was and what he ate, as well as details of his pets and the clothes he wore. Trump said on Fox that U.S. forces had practiced their extraction on a replica building.