President Donald Trump recounts Maduro capture at Fort Bragg event

President Donald Trump touted the military’s might during the successful operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro during an event Friday in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, honoring U.S. special forces and their families for their role in the capture.

“It took a few minutes to get Maduro out of there by helicopter. They had to go through steel doors,” Trump said Friday afternoon. he said. “The steels were like papier-mâché. Do you know what papier-mâché is? It’s a weak paper.”

US special operations forces successfully captured Maduro and his wife on broad narcotics charges. Trump celebrated that the mission did not kill any US military personnel or damage US military equipment in a heavily militarized country where Maduro himself lives on a protected military base.

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“Trump continued Friday: “These guys blew open every door. They were on top of the big safe before they could get to it. But that wouldn’t have worked either because they had the equipment to take it out in minutes, but he never got there. He went too fast.”

Trump continued that the operation was “precise” and “incredible.”

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“Think about this in a few minutes,” he continued. “When people realize what happened, they look up and you see the helicopter heading towards the aircraft carriers. That night, the whole world saw what the full military force of the U.S. military could do. And it was an incredible operation, but this was a smaller operation.”

Captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arrives at the New York Downtown Manhattan Heliport on January 5, 2026. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

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Maduro was flown by helicopter before being flown to the United States, where he will face federal charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine trafficking conspiracy and weapons crimes. He remains in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City.

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump traveled to North Carolina on February 13, 2026, to meet with military officials after the capture of Venezuelan Maduro. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

First Lady Melania Trump joined the president on his trip to North Carolina, and Trump joked that they enjoyed the area so much they might move there in the future.

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Trump saluted Melania Trump’s new documentary “Melania” and said, “Maybe I’ll move here with our big movie star.” “We’re going to move here with our First Lady. We’re going to move to Fort Bragg. Do you want that, dear?” He loves you. That’s a possibility.”