President Trump revealed during a press conference earlier that US military forces were prepared to kill Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro if he  “pushed back or resisted” during the invasion of Venezuela and the successful capture of Maduro and his wife on Saturday. 

Despite what Trump described as “a lot of gunfire,” US troops were able to apprehend Maduro and take him into custody via helicopter successfully.

Maduro was indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges of Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States, the Gateway Pundit reported.

Trump posted the following video of the strikes, which targeted at least four sites around Caracas, Venezuela.

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The United States now controls Venezuela, and Trump told reporters Saturday he is “going to run the country right,” adding that it will be run “very judiciously, very fairly.”

“He was trying to get into a safe place, you know, to safe places, all steel, and he wasn’t able to make it to the door because our guys were so fast,” Trump told reporters during the press conference this afternoon at Mar-a-Lago.

“They went through the opposition so fast, and there was a lot of opposition.”

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Reporter: You were one of the only people to watch this all play out live. What was Maduro doing when the US forces entered what I assume would be his home? And also, was there any point where the US was considering, if Maduro pushed back or resisted, killing Maduro?

Trump: It could have happened. It could have happened. He was trying to get into a safe place, you know, to safe places, all steel, and he wasn’t able to make it to the door because our guys were so fast. They went through the opposition so fast, and there was a lot of opposition. You know, people were wondering, do we get him by surprise? Sort of surprised, but they were waiting for something. It was a lot of opposition.

There was a lot of gunfire. You saw some of it today. But he was trying to get to a safe place, which wasn’t safe, because we would have had the door blown up in about 47— I think 47 seconds, they say, on average, regardless of how thick the steel was. It was a very thick door; it was a very heavy door. But he was unable to get to that door. He made it to the door. He was unable to close it.

As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier, Trump discussed Maduro’s capture during an interview with Fox News earlier this morning, where he said Maduro was found in a “fortress” of a house, where he attempted to flee like a dog. “But he got bum rushed so fast that he didn’t get into” the safety space, Trump said.

“We had, you know, massive blow torches and everything else that you need to get through that steel, but we didn’t need it. He didn’t make it to that area of the house,” Trump added.

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Trump: You know, that we had nobody killed. Was amazing. I think we had nobody killed, I have to say, because a couple of guys were hit, but they came back, and they’re supposed to be in pretty good shape. But that we had nobody killed, that we lost no aircraft, you know, everything came back, we got it all back. One of them was hit pretty hard, but a helicopter, but we got it back. But it just was the right time to do it. We had to do it because it’s a war. We’re losing 300,000 people a year. We don’t lose that much in a war, okay, if you look. And we had to do it, but he was in a house that was more like a fortress than a house.

It had steel doors. It had what they call the safety space, where it’s, you know, solid steel all around. He didn’t get that space closed. He was trying to get into it, but he got bum rushed so fast that he didn’t get into there. We were prepared. We had, you know, massive blow torches and everything else that you need to get through that steel, but we didn’t need it. He didn’t make it to that area of the house.

Trump further stated that the US was prepared to launch secondary attacks with an “armada like nobody’s ever seen before” surrounding Venezuela.

He also put Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on notice, stating, “Something’s gonna have to be done with Mexico.”

MORE:

“Armada Like Nobody’s Ever Seen Before”: Trump Says U.S. Was Prepared for Second Strike as Maduro Was “Bum Rushed” and Taken Via Helicopter onto Ship — Mexico Put on Notice (VIDEO)

Jordan Conradson Jordan Conradson, formerly TGP’s Arizona correspondent, is currently on assignment in Washington DC. Jordan has played a critical role in exposing fraud and corruption in Arizona's elections and elected officials. His reporting on election crimes in Maricopa County led to the resignation of one election official, and he was later banned from the Maricopa County press room for his courage in pursuit of the truth. TGP and Jordan finally gained access after suing Maricopa County, America's fourth largest county, and winning at the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Conradson looks forward to bringing his aggressive style of journalism to the Swamp.

You can email Jordan Conradson here, and read more of Jordan Conradson's articles here.