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First of All with Victor Blackwell

Trump: U.S. Captures Venezuela Leader After Strikes On Country; Trump: Maduro Captured And Flown Out Of County; Trump Confirms U.S. Conducted Large Scales Strikes ON Venezuela; Aired 8-9a ET

Aired January 03, 2026 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[08:00:32]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN. I'm Victor Blackwell in Atlanta. The breaking news this morning. President Trump says the U.S. Carried out large scale strikes on Venezuela overnight. He says its president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores have been captured and flown out of the country. Attorney General Pam Bondi says both of them have been indicted and in a social media post says that they will, quote, "soon face the full wrath of American justice." The Venezuelan vice president says that she has no idea where Maduro and the First lady are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICE PRES. DELCY RODRIGUEZ, VENEZUELA (voiceover): Faced with this brutal situation and this brutal attack. We do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Celia Flores. We demand immediate proof of life from the government of President Donald Trump. Proof of life for President Maduro and the first lady.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: President Trump says that he'll address the nation on the strikes from Mar-a-Lago later this morning. Right now, quiet in the capital of Caracas just hours after the strikes. But earlier explosions rocked Venezuela, knocked out power and sent people running outside.

This strike was at La Carlotta Air base in Caracas. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins me now from London. Nick, we just heard from Issa Suarez speaking with some of her sources in country about the fear of what could come next because so many questions are unanswered.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, let's go through what we know has happened so far since about 1:00 a.m. local time. And these series of explosions rocked Caracas and other parts of Venezuela. Multiple helicopters seen in the air and then clearly a U.S. Special Forces operation that removed Nicola Maduro and his wife from what should have been their heavily fortified and secured premises in the capital. They're hard to understate quite what a move this is geopolitically by the Trump White House to remove the sitting president of a country which it considers to be a regional irritant.

Startling certainly as well, and also efficient, frankly, given what it seems this operation and the impact that it is having. The Attorney General Pam Bondi hinting that the indictments in the Southern District of New York court will be the ones that Maduro faced. He had a $50 million bounty on his head seeking information that could lead towards his capture. And it may well be that the delay we're seeing since Trump's tweet in the early hours of this morning, his 74-word social media post that removed the extraordinary mystery, frankly, or the unresponsibility of exactly what was happening in the skies of Caracas very quickly to explain that, as many suspected.

It was the U.S. Military behind this, it now appears that potentially the delay may be about transferring Maduro inside American soil for when President Trump addresses the nation about this move, extraordinary as it is. But I think once the perhaps for Trump allies, the excellent Maduro who has been on offense against protesters and opponents for 13 years. Once that fades, the hard questions now must be answered about what to do with Venezuela's crippled economy.

That has been the reason why Maduro has needed to be authoritarian. The mismanagement of basic things like inflation, foodstuffs that permeates that entire country. What happens now to Venezuela's military, heavily hit during this brief series of strikes? Should point out the explosions we've been seeing in these videos, utterly alien to life in sleepy, peaceful Caracas, will have terrified the millions who live there.

What is the likely course for Venezuela's political elite? Is indeed Delsey Rodriguez the successor? Does she immediately seek a detente with the United States to prevent a similar abduction in the middle of the night occurring to her? These are all urgent questions and I think the key thing here is for the United States to have planned for the aftermath of Maduro retail and resolve as they clearly planned action.

The U.S. Military very good at this sort of thing, be it Bin Laden in Pakistan, Zawahiri, the Al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, Maduro, a man with lesser charges against him in Venezuela. But they fail repeatedly in what comes next. And I'm sure many in Venezuela will be deeply hoping that they now see some sort of future ahead of them where the economic and political problems become part of the United States focus and they're not just left to see further collapse.

[08:05:20]

A reminder the United States, particularly the Trump administration, want to see many of the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans on U.S. soil go home. And perhaps a calm and prosperous Venezuela would permit that to happen at a faster pace. But we are today in unprecedented territory. In Moscow, in Beijing, they will be looking at how their ally Maduro is suddenly whisked away from a place where he should have felt security of diplomacy of the international world order. New York courthouse to face drug charges.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Russia, as I said a moment ago, is now asking for immediate clarification on the U.S. claims that it has captured Maduro.

PATON: Let's probably get that.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Nick Payton Walsh, thanks so much. Joining us now is CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak. Kevin, again, we're going to hear from the president at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, three hours from now. But I understand you have some new information about how this unfolded. What do you know?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and what we understand is that the president gave the green light for this operation several days ago. That's according to people familiar with the matter. It was carried out by the elite Delta force in the U.S. army. That's the same group that captured Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi some years ago. So a highly trained a force that went in to capture Maduro.

They were tracking his location with the assistance of the CIA. And we know that the president had authorized the CIA to operate covertly inside of Venezuela, you know, some weeks ago. We saw some of what they were doing just this week when we learned about that strike on a dock facility that the president said was transporting drugs. But now we're getting a fuller picture of what precisely that agency was doing there.

Now, the goal here is to try Maduro on U.S. soil. We've been hearing that from officials. We just heard it explicitly from the attorney general, Pam Bondi, who is citing that indictment in the Southern District of New York that was filed back in 2020. There was this bounty on Maduro. And what Bondi says is that both Maduro and his wife will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts. But to be sure, there are plenty of questions here being raised by members of Congress. It does not appear as if the Trump administration briefed, you know, the relevant lawmakers or the relevant committees before taking that action.

And this morning it appears that the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has been on the phone talking to senators to discuss some of what happened. And some of them are revealing a little bit about their discussion. You know, Mike Lee, the senator from Utah, said that the strikes that occurred in Venezuela were intended to protect the U.S. personnel who were capturing Maduro, that the president was relying on his Article 2 authority, essentially his authority as commander in chief to conduct foreign policy to carry out these strikes. And I think most critically, what Rubio told Lee was that he anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody.

So this appears to be it for now. What we've seen overnight, you know, this is really the culmination of these months long pressure campaign. There was, I think, some misgivings on the part of the president some months ago about where all of this was leading.

We heard that from officials that he had some reservations that this could potentially all backfire if Maduro was ousted from power. Some questions about whether this would be effective. But clearly, he has put those to the side and given the green light to go ahead.

You know, I think President Trump is also of the era who will remember a mixed history of U.S. interventions in Latin America, including with the CIA. You know, today is 35 years exactly since the U.S. arrested the Panamanian dictator Emmanuel Noriego at the Vatican Embassy in Panama. So, you know, there is a long, somewhat mixed history for the President to look back on here, but clearly eager to proclaim success in this particular mission and I think eager to show that justice will be served for what they claim is a drug trafficking charge.

You know, the objectives in all of this have always in a way led to regime change. That was what the President's ultimate goal was here. We heard that explicitly from Susie Wiles in that Vanity Fair interview. But you also saw a number of different sort of rationales that the President has laid out, whether it was curbing the flow of drugs, whether it was curbing the flow of migrants. You also hear the President talk quite a bit about the oil, of course, Venezuela sitting on the world's largest prudent proven oil reserves.

And so I think when we hear from the President over at Mar-a-Lago down here in Palm beach at 11:00 a.m., it's likely that we're going to hear sort of a combination of all of that. And certainly, I think the question of what happens next in Venezuela, what the president has been planning on that front, whether the U.S. sort of has any role or anticipates any role in stabilizing that country now that the leader has left. Those will be critical questions that the president, I think I will need to answer for when we see him in a few hours from now.

[08:10:30]

BLACKWELL: And Democrats in the Senate are already asking those questions, as we're seeing on social media. Kevin Liptak, thanks so much.

Let's turn now to journalist Mary Mena, reporting live from the Capitol. Mary, looks calm behind you now, but tell us, where were you and what did you see and hear when the explosion started?

MARY MENA, JOURNALIST: Well, as many Venezuelans, I was at home. I was sleeping. At the time that the strikes began here in the country, it was impossible to not to wake up because of the loud sound that was produced by these detonations that were not permanent, but they were clear sign of that something bad was happening inside of the country. We need to remember that Caracas is a valley surrounded by mountains. So the acoustic of everything is extremely loud out when something like that happens for some people was an indication of fireworks.

We need to remember that we just have the New Year's Eve and some woke up with these loud sounds. And on some messages from relatives from abroad telling them that something was happening. Later on, the government confirmed, using a statement that the attacks took place in three different locations inside Venezuela, in three states of Venezuela. But so far there are no large gathering of people outside. And this is for many reasons. We need to remember that Venezuelans were or most Venezuelans were

living under an authoritarian leader. And last year many detentions took place. So there's no demonstration in favor of this situation or against. So far, the state television has been showing small groups of people in different locations in the city and they are showing images of the streets, highways. Streets in Caracas are pretty much empty and there's quiet, there's silence in the city.

Right now, the worst that government officials keep repeating is where is Nicolas Maduro? And they are demanding proof of life. Because we need to remember that even though we have the confirmation that from President Donald Trump that Maduro is outside of the country and in it will be facing criminal charges here inside Venezuela, there still supporters of Maduro, such as the vice president and the general attorney that say that some people were damaged. Some people were even killed. But they don't explain with a lot of detail what is happening inside of the country.

They keep saying they are in charge and asking people to remain in calm. And that is what we are witnessing right now. Most people inside of the home and stores and many things that should be open on a regular Saturday are closed so far. And the Saturday is just beginning in Venezuela.

BLACKWELL: All right. We'll learn more throughout the day. Mary Mena, thank you so much.

We're going to take a quick break. Less than three hours away now from President Trump addressing the overnight strikes in Venezuela. This is Mar-a-Lago. We'll have those comments scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

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[08:18:13]

BLACKWELL: All right. More on the breaking news now. The United States captures President Nicolas Maduro after launching an attack on Venezuela. President Trump confirms on Truth Social that the U.S. carried out this large scale strike overnight and that President Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured and flown out of the country.

CNN has learned that President Trump approved the operation days ago. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly told one senator that Maduro will stand trial in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. The U.S. indicted Maduro in 2020. And the Venezuelan government is calling the U.S. operation a grave military aggression.

CNN crews were firsthand witnesses to a series of explosions in the capital of Caracas just before 1:00 a.m. Parts of the city are now without power. The Venezuelan government has declared a state of emergency.

President Trump plans to deliver remarks about the operation and the capture of Maduro this morning at 11:00 Eastern Time. Let's discuss the developments with former Deputy Director of National Intelligence Beth Sanner and CNN's military analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton. Welcome to you both.

Colonel, first to you, and admittedly it may be premature, but based on history, based on the context and what we know about Venezuela and their capabilities, is this the start of something bigger? Because we've heard condemnation from the vice president, we've heard condemnation from the defense minister, but we've heard no promise of retaliation. And so what do you expect from them now?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, that's a very interesting question. Victor, good morning, again. I think from the Venezuelans, what they're going to do is they're going to wait and see what happens next. If you take Secretary of State Rubio's statements at face value, apparently there is no further U.S. Military action plan. So if there's no further U.S. Military action, it's going to be difficult for the Venezuelans to retaliate to something that has basically come into their country and left the country and taken their president and first lady with it, with them.

[08:20:22]

So in this particular context, I think what we're seeing is Venezuela and (inaudible) that this has happened with the Maduro regime and (inaudible), and now they're waiting to see if something else does materialize.

Of course, this begs the question, what happens next? Because now there's a power vacuum in Venezuela and if the U.S. wants to influence what happens next, they're going to have some method of doing that. And if they don't have troops on the ground, it's going to have to be an indirect approach.

Maybe that will work, maybe it won't, but that's something that's going to impact what happens next, I believe.

BLACKWELL: And so, Beth, your top morning after question, because as the colonel has said, and General Wesley Clark was on earlier with us, said that the U.S. is good with the capture, but it's the next step, the day, the week, the month on what are your top concerns?

BETH SANNER, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Well, I think that basically very little changes in the immediate future. You have very strong leadership that remains in Venezuela. Maduro is one part of a military police state. The interior minister, Cabello is absolutely, you know, the strongman behind Maduro and what propped up the regime and made sure that they endured after they stole the election in 2024.

And so, you know, you've got him, you've got the defense minister, Padrino, and you have this accession of power in the Constitution that goes to Vice President Delsey Rodriguez. And she is standing, you know, in front of the cameras as well.

All of them are in front of the cameras and Cabello is on the streets and they have this vast neighborhood collectivos and other kind of reservists that are in the neighborhoods. They're part of the neighborhood watch. And so I think the next thing is how much does this government crackdown on the opposition, how many more arrests will take place as they try to make sure that they stay in power?

And then, you know, on the United States side, what do we do? I think that SETI, as she goes, in terms of the economic stranglehold, the gunboat diplomacy, and that's going to continue to put pressure on the regime. But, you know, this doesn't change a whole lot in terms of the lives of Venezuelans today unless they rise up.

BLACKWELL: Well, Beth, do you think that satisfies this president, though, that simply having Maduro in custody is really all he wants?

SANNER: No, but I think that this checks the box on the domestic side of things. And as you pointed out, he was indicted by the Department of justice in 2020. And so this has been on the books for a long time. The they're following through. But no, I don't think this quite satisfies it, which is why I think that we'll continue to see this gunboat diplomacy. And if they do crack down on the opposition and we'll see what people do, are people going to be brave enough to go out onto the streets? I don't know.

But if they do start cracking down and hurting people, then I think that the president may take another step. But at this point, he doesn't want ground troops. He doesn't want troops on the ground because that is certainly not consistent with, you know, kind of what the base wants right now. So he's trying to avoid that.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Cedric. Colonel, does this get to the point of the drug trafficking and the cartels inside Venezuela? Because the argument from the administration for the dozens of now boat strikes was that these were boats coming over and killing Americans. Does this slow that passage of drugs toward the U.S. if that is indeed the case?

LEIGHTON: Yes, Victor, great question. I think the answer is no. Now, there may be a temporary abatement and, you know, shipments of drugs through Venezuela, but we have to remember that actually is a small amount of drugs that comes in through Venezuela. So it's going to really not dent that very much, even that small amount. And it's definitely not going to do very much to counter the drug flow from places like Colombia and Mexico into the United States.

[08:25:04]

So this is at best, you know, a temporary stop to some of that, those shipments. But I don't think it's going to do anything at all to limit that because that whole drug system, the whole distribution that narco traffickers have is going to continue no matter who's in charge in Venezuela.

BLACKWELL: And so, Beth, one more to you, because we've heard from Russia, their concern, condemning these actions overnight, the capture of Maduro. Asking for clarification, of course, we know that the U.S. is trying to negotiate the end of Russia's war on Ukraine. And so what is the residue of what's happening in Venezuela? How does that impact the other geopolitical efforts this administration has embarked upon? SANNER: Well, with Russia, you know, Russia probably certainly has

people on the ground. They have advisors, they have technicians. Most likely those people, you know, maybe they were hurt. We don't know really if there was any collateral damage here. The Cubans who were next to and part of the guards, the palace guards for Maduro, and then there was a Chinese special envoy who arrived yesterday in Caracas and met yesterday in a very big television splash on Venezuelan TV with Maduro. And then you have Iranian involvement as well. So we have all of our adversaries in Venezuela, which is one of the reasons we're unhappy.

I actually think that the biggest impact, the most immediate impact is maybe in Iran. And you know, the president just made some threats ago today that former, the first Trump administrator killed Soleimani, who was then the head of the Republican Guards Quds Force inside Iraq. And President Trump tweeted about protecting and defending the Iranian protesters should they be killed.

So we will see in a way how this unfolds can affect how the Iranian regime is feeling, how secure they feel and what comes next for them. For Putin, this is going to be condemnation, China, but even allies like Mexico have come out condemning this action. So we will much more to come.

BLACKWELL: The President a little more than 24 hours ago posted on social media. The U.S. is locked and loaded focused on Iran's treatment of those protesters. Beth Sanner, Colonel Leighton, thank you both.

President Trump confirms at large, along with the capture of President Maduro and his wife. We'll take a quick break and be back with more breaking news coverage after this.

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[08:32:14]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLACKWELL: We are learning on Venezuela early this morning. A source tells CNN that President Trump covert mission to capture Venezuelan President Maduro several days ago. The mission was carried out by the Army Delta Force, which is one of the U.S. premier counterterrorism units.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the GOP senator that the land strikes overnight were deployed to protect and defend the troops executing the arrest warrant. And President Trump says that he will address the mission in a news conference from Mar-a-Lago. That's at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

CNN's Rafael Romo joins me now. Still a lot of questions about the operation and maybe we'll get those answers from the president. But for the Venezuelan people the question of what's next and the potential that they just trade one dictator for another. RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it's a very real possibility,

Victor, and you just nailed it by saying that. And one thing bring is that 36 years ago to the day, General Noriega, then strongman of Panama, surrendered to U.S. forces after the operation launched by the United States in Panama, Operation Just Cause, when George H.W. Bush was the president. So it happened on January 3rd.

I think that we have to realize about Venezuela is that it's not one single man holding power and holding the country together. Maduro was not ruling by himself, is a group of people, and Maduro was a power broker. There are many people who could potentially succeed him.

We were listening earlier today from Vice President Delcy Rodriguez. She's more of an ideological ally who has been working behind the scenes to keep power together. Earlier today we also saw Defense Minister Vladimir Badrino.

He is the strong man behind the armed forces and a very possible, in my view, successor to Nicolas Maduro because the armed forces are very loyal to him. I can also think of Diosdado Cabello, the current interior minister.

He is a former military officer and someone who is closer, more similar to the late Hugo Chavez, who was the one who brought Chavismo and socialism to the country. And last, but not least, I would also mention the Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, who's also a very powerful broker in Venezuela.

So it's not just one man. It is a system that has permeated Venezuela. Every faction, facet of power. And that they have been operating like that in allowing the armed forces to enrich themselves.

[08:35:08]

Allowing certain business people to enrich themselves so they can perpetuate themselves in power.

BLACKWELL: You know, we heard from Beth Sander in that last segment in which she said, it's steady as you go, things will probably continue along unless the people rise up. And so what potential do you see that it's been. We were talking during the break several years that you've seen any evidence Venezuela.

ROMO: Yes. So I was thinking of the uprising in April of 2019. We were there to cover what happened. And at the time, there were many young people willing to die for Venezuela to bring about regime change. Many of those people have unfortunately died. Many of them are in jail. Many of them are part of the waves of Venezuelans who just simply left the country.

Let's remember, Victor, 8 million Venezuelans, enough people to form a new country, have left Venezuela in the last 10, 15 years. So it tells you about what they have been through.

The other thing that we need to remember is that the regime has control of armed groups. They are roving gangs that the government itself has armed over the years. And they can respond at a moment -- moment's notice.

I saw them in action in 2019. They're nothing to play with. They're armed, they are not afraid to attack, and because of impunity, they can do as they please. We were walking towards the building of the National Assembly and our fixer then told us, really get into the building right away, because the collectivos, that's what they're called in Spanish. These groups are only a block away. We got in and the opposition legislators come in with a bloody nose because he had -- gives you an idea of what kind of challenges there are.

BLACKWELL: You talked about the millions of Venezuelans who fled. Some of them came here to the US. So we've got that video, if we have it, let's put it up, of the celebration in Miami Dade County, in Doral, which is sometimes referred to as Little Venezuela because of the concentration of Venezuelans.

You and I are talking about what's on the next page for Venezuela. The people here are just celebrating that the page is turning.

ROMO: That's right. And you see -- you're going to see celebrations. We -- earlier got images from Venezuelans in Madrid. You're going to see celebrations in Santiago, the Chilean capital. All of those people who have left. We were talking about it before, in the last 10, 15 years, because they could not take it anymore.

Venezuela has lost 72 percent of its economy in 2013. Chavez, his predecessor, was lucky because they could live in a socialist regime as long as the money lasted. But all of these people were desperate. I was also able to talk to Venezuelans coming to the United States in Eagle Pass.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

ROMO: And they risked everything, including their own lives, because there was nothing left for them in Venezuela. And one of the things that were hearing this morning is a lady talking about the current situation, and she was saying, we have faced death for 26 years since Hugo Chavez took power.

So you see people celebrating not the same thing in Caracas this morning because people are very afraid still of the regime.

BLACKWELL: Rafael Romo, thank you for helping us understand it. We should also remind people that President Trump ended the temporary protective status for the Venezuelans in America. So, we'll see if the people who were celebrating there in Doral forced to go back to Venezuela in this time of uncertainty. And we'll be right back.

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[08:43:23]

BLACKWELL: Just in. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will, quote, soon face the full wrath of American justice. In a post on social media, Bondi cited the indictment against Maduro, charging him with narco terrorism and other drugs and weapons charges.

She thanked President Trump and the military for capturing the, quote, alleged international narco traffickers. Maduro was indicted by the Southern District of New York in 2020.

With me now is Notre Dame Law School Professor Mary Ellen O'Connell. She specializes international law on the use of force. Thank you so much for being with me.

First here just the big obvious question, is capture of a foreign leader of a sovereign state in accordance with international law?

MARY ELLEN O'CONNELL, LAW PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME: It is not. Let's be clear. There's an even worse violation of international law that is happening as we speak. That is the use of military force on Venezuelan soil. People have died. There has been destruction and there is no justification for any of that under international law.

In the course of that use of major military force, there has been a detention, a kidnapping of a citizen of Venezuela, the president, and a removal of him unlawfully to place we do not know. That is kidnapping. That is an unlawful extradition rendition of a person that has been condemned throughout history and certainly by the U.S. when it has happened through the use of other countries detaining people unlawfully, as the U.S. has apparently now done with President Maduro and his wife.

[08:45:10]

BLACKWELL: So let's take that in two parts because we just showed the video of the people in South Florida who are celebrating this. There are many Venezuelans who are celebrating the, as they see it, the end of the Maduro regime. But if this is unlawful, what recourse is there? Mean the US Is not going to just hand him back over.

O'CONNELL: Let me be clear in saying that the U.S. should always follow the rule of law when we are combating lawlessness. This is no justification or any sort of praise for Maduro. He has ruled the country in clear violation of international law of basic human rights of Venezuelans. And I understand why there is so much anger against him, especially by Venezuelans in exile who have been so harshly treated by Maduro and his predecessor Chavez.

There is no reason, though, to double down on the violations and on the demonstrations of lawlessness by carrying out lawless actions and detaining him. It may be long, slow work, but eventually the people of Venezuela would reform their country. They would put people like Maduro on trial themselves or allow him to be extradited according to legal precedent to the United States. That is the way this should be handled.

The U.S. should be demonstrating how the law can be implemented. We should be the most strict compliers with international law to use that demonstration effect so that other countries will follow our lead, not what we're doing today.

BLACKWELL: So let me get your reaction to what we've heard from -- this is from a tweet posted by Senator Mike Lee from a conversation he had with the Secretary of State in which he says the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant. This action likely falls within the President's inherent authority under Article 2 of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack. What do you think about that?

O'CONNELL: Well, yes. So the U.S. constitutional question is complicated. Congress has really failed to hold the President to what our understanding of the Commander in Chief's actual authority is. But there's no question that regardless of whether he acted -- whether President Trump acted in compliance with the Constitution, he acted in violation of the United Nations Charter, the treaties, like the U.N. Charter, the supreme law of the United States, according to the Constitution.

That means the President needs to is compelled to comply with international law when he's acting abroad. He hasn't done that. He hasn't done that for months in carrying out these boat attacks, killing over 115 people in the Caribbean and the Pacific blowing up a port through the CIA and other actions.

The President wants countries to commit to trade treaties with him, to other kinds of agreements, to peace deals and Gaza and so forth. And yet he doesn't even respect the most important treaties in the international community, namely the United Nations Charter and the International Civil and Political Rights Covenant that protects human rights of everyone, even the criminally accused. So, it's time for the US to live up to the very ideals that we say we stand for.

BLACKWELL: Mary Ellen O'Connell -- Mary Ellen O'Connell, thank you very much for your insight. We'll take a quick break and we'll be right back.

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[08:53:11]

BLACKWELL: In a news conference later this morning, President Trump says that he'll give new details about the military operation in Venezuela, maybe answer some of the questions we've asked this morning. A GOP senator said that he was told by the Secretary of State that the U.S. strike was to protect the troops arresting Maduro. The U.S. military has been increasing its forces in the Caribbean for months now.

With me from Washington is CNN national security reporter Haley Britzky. Haley, what have you learned new?

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, so we know that there are Delta Forces who were assisting in this operation. From CNN's Kevin Liptak, these are highly trained, highly selective Special Forces unit. We know that his location was being tracked by the CIA and that this operation was greenlit several days ago.

But there's still a lot that we don't know, including what other military assets were used in this operation. This is something that certainly can't come together overnight. It requires a ton of planning. There are so many military assets in the region at this point, roughly 15,000 U.S. troops, roughly a dozen warships, aircraft carriers, guided missile destroyers, you name it, in the region.

And so this has been a gradual buildup over the last several months, really emphasizing how serious the president was in talking about Venezuela and the pressure campaign that the White House was placing there.

So a lot of questions that we're still waiting to get answers to at this 11:00am press conference, including more details about this operation and sort of what this looked like and its planning behind the scenes because again, this does take time to put together.

You have the safety of the U.S. troops who are carrying out this mission at the top of mind, of course, when you're putting something together like this. So a lot more detail that we're looking to glean from the president's press conference and in the days ahead for sure. Victor.

BLACKWELL: Haley Britzky, thank you very much and thank you for joining us this morning. Our breaking news coverage continues on Smerconish up next.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: Breaking news out of Venezuela. President Trump says the United States carried out a quote, large scale strike against Venezuela overnight and claims that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife have been captured.