In a phone interview, Trump celebrated the capture of Maduro

It was after 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, and 10 minutes had passed since the United States announced on social media that it had captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. I called the president to better understand what had happened and what would happen next. After three rings, he answered the phone and answered a few questions.

Trump first celebrated the success of the mission.
“A lot of good planning and a lot of great, great troops and great people,” he told me. “It was actually a great operation.”

I then asked if he would seek congressional authority before the U.S. military and law enforcement would engage in a “large-scale strike,” as he put it on social media.

“We will discuss this,” he said. “We will hold a press conference.”
Trump announced on social media that he would speak at 11 a.m. from Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence where he spent the last two weeks. I tried to ask what he envisioned next for Venezuela and why the high-risk mission was worth it.

“You’ll hear everything at 11 o’clock,” he said before hanging up.

The conversation lasted 50 seconds.

This article was first published in The New York Times.