Maduro kidnapped a Venezuelan dictator accused of drug trafficking, Bondi said
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The capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is “not just about drugs,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in her first interview with the military on “Hannity” Monday.
Maduro and other defendants could face charges elsewhere, Bondi said.
“Nothing is on the table,” Bondi told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “These people need to stay behind bars. They are responsible for the loss of many lives, and these are not drug dealers. They are drug traffickers.”
On Monday, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, he pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism and other federal court cases.
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The Justice Department says Maduro has handed over “Venezuelan diplomatic passports drug traffickers and diplomatic cover for the planes used by money smugglers to transport drug money from Mexico to Venezuela.”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro greets his supporters during a rally in Caracas on Dec. 1, 2025. (Pedro Mattey/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A man who spoke briefly with Maduro in a Manhattan courtroom told Fox News the dictator he called himself a “prisoner of war” and he likened himself to Jesus.
“I am innocent, I am not guilty,” Maduro told the court. “I am an honorable man. I am still the president of my country.”
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Some Democrats have he criticized the operation of the military as a violation of state sovereignty, comparing it to former President George W. Bush’s actions in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Bondi insisted that “Operation Absolute Resolve” was “within” the President Donald Trumpconstitutional authority in response to critics.
People who left the plane believed to be carrying Maduro, the wife behind Operation Absolute Resolve under cover of darkness. (WNYW)
“It was the duty of the law to arrest people accused of crimes in Venezuela,” Bondi explained. “Our soldiers delivered a flawless, flawless performance of that.”
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He went on to insist Saturday’s covert operation “saved many lives.”
“The president saved thousands of lives tonight,” Bondi said. “But he also protected the American people from TDA [Tren de Aragua] members of Maduro brought them into our country, forced into our country.”
The exiled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared with their lawyers Barry Pollack and Mark Donnelly at their arraignment in a district court in New York City on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026. (Jane Rosenberg)
The attorney general listed several victims of the killings of gang members in Venezuela, including 22-year-old Laken Riley and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.
“It’s scary and it’s going to stop,” he swore.
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When Trump said the US will temporarily “run” VenezuelaMaduro’s allies in the government denied the claim.
The Venezuelan dictator and his wife will appear in court again on March 17.
