President Trump Says U.S. Not at War with Venezuela

JAKARTA - The United States is not at war with Venezuela, President Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC News.

The United States military carried out an operation in the capital Caracas and then arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were taken to the US to face trial in New York.

"No, we don't," President Trump said, launching TASS (7/1)

"We're fighting people that are selling drugs. We're fighting people that are emptying their prisons into our country and emptying their drug addicts and emptying their mental hospitals into our country," President Trump explained.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth revealed that his country deployed nearly 200 military personnel in the arrest of President Maduro, launching Al Arabiya from AFP.

The statement makes him the first US official to provide a definitive figure on the number of US troops who stormed Caracas by helicopter as part of the surprise operation, which also involved more than 150 military aircraft in various roles, including attacking Venezuela's defenses.

The White House believes new elections will not be held in Venezuela for the next thirty days, said President Trump.

"We have to fix this country first. You can't have elections. It's not possible for people to vote," the US leader said when answering a question about the possibility of elections in Venezuela in a month.

"No, it will take time. We have to restore this country," he added.

President Trump also appointed a group of US officials who will handle Venezuelan affairs, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and Vice President JD Vance.

"They all have expertise, different expertise," he said.

Maduro in his first court hearing at the New York Federal Court on Monday confirmed that he was still the President of Venezuela, pleading not guilty to four criminal charges: drug terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and possession of machine guns and explosives. His wife, Flores, also pleaded not guilty.

The Venezuelan leader has long denied the charge, saying it was just a cover for imperialist plans over Venezuela's rich oil reserves.

Meanwhile, Vice President and Minister of Oil of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, was officially inaugurated on Monday as the interim president of Venezuela.