Later Saturday, Maduro and his wife arrived by plane to Newburgh, New York. Maduro is expected to face drug and weapons charges in Manhattan federal court next week. Earlier, Trump posted a photo online of what he said was Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Maduro and Flores are charged in a federal indictment unsealed in New York, accusing them of conspiring with drug trafficking organizations to ship cocaine into the U.S. Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were first indicted on narco-terrorism charges in 2020, though he has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, criticized the U.S. in a nationally televised address, calling the operation that captured Maduro an act of “military aggression” aimed at regime change. The comments appeared to contradict Trump's claims that the U.S. could work with her to oversee the country’s transition. Earlier Saturday, the Venezuelan government declared a state of emergency and said said it would mobilize to "defeat this imperialist aggression."