President Donald Trump on Saturday said that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela following a U.S. military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition” to new leadership, Trump said during a press conference in Florida.

The U.S. president added that he didn’t want a new leader to take over in the wake of Maduro’s capture that would result in “the same situation that we had for the last long period of years.”

“So, we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition. And it has to be judicious, because that’s what we’re all about,” Trump added. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”

In his remarks, Trump did not clarify what it would mean for the U.S. to “run” Venezuela but said that U.S. oil companies were prepared to make major investments in the country.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,” he said.

The U.S. president added that the U.S. military was prepared to strike Venezuela again if needed.

“We are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so. So we were prepared to do a second wave if we need to do so,” Trump added.

After questions from reporters about whether the U.S. running Venezuela will involve military personnel on the ground, the president said, "We’re not afraid of boots on the ground."

"We don’t mind saying it, but we’re going to make sure that that country is run properly. We’re not doing this in vain," he added.

Trump also indicated that Cuba could become a topic of discussion as part of broader U.S. policy in the region, highlighting the potential for Washington to expand its focus beyond Venezuela amid rising tensions in Latin America.

Minutes before he spoke, Trump posted on Truth Social a photo appearing to show Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima wearing an apparent blindfold and holding a bottle of water. Trump also posted a video of the U.S. strikes on Venezuela set to the song “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

In a post on X, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Venezuelan leader would “face the full wrath” of the U.S. justice system.

The charges against Maduro, in an indictment unsealed Saturday, include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

In the indictment, federal prosecutors alleged that Maduro “is at the forefront of that corruption and has partnered with his co-conspirators to use his illegally obtained authority and the institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States.”

They also allege that Maduro and other members of the Venezuelan government sold passports, provided protection and enabled the sale and transportation of hundreds of tons of illegal drugs through their ports, including drugs from several recognized Mexican drug cartels.

In his remarks, Trump said he had seen the evidence against Maduro that was gathered for the indictment, and he blamed the Venezuelan leader for drug trafficking and crime in the U.S.

“I’ve seen what we have. It’s both horrible and breathtaking that something like this could have been allowed to take place for many years after his term as president of Venezuela expired,” the U.S. president said. “Maduro remained in power and waged a ceaseless campaign of violence, terror and subversion against the United States of America, threatening not only our people, but the stability of the entire region.”

Maduro was first indicted, alongside 14 others in 2020, during Trump’s first administration, in the Southern District of New York. The Venezuelan leader first came to power in 2013 and was sworn in to a third term as president one year ago, despite evidence that Maduro did not win the preceding presidential election.

Two U.S. officials familiar with the planning told NBC News on Saturday that the U.S. president approved the military and law enforcement actions in Venezuela more than a week ago.

Trump told Fox News in the phone interview that the strike was slated to happen four days ago, “but the weather was not perfect.”

“We had, you know, very good, a little bit few more clouds than we thought, but it was good,” he added. “We waited four days. We were going to do this four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, and then all of a sudden it opened up, and we said go.”

In remarks Saturday after Trump’s, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine confirmed that military forces waited over a week for the weather to clear up.

“Weather in Venezuela is always a factor this time of the year, and over the weeks through Christmas and New Year’s, the men and women of the United States military sat ready, patiently waiting for the right triggers to be met and the president to order us into action,” Caine told reporters.

“Last night, the weather broke just enough, clearing a path that only the most skilled aviators in the world could maneuver through,” he added.

Caine said that Trump gave the order to go at 10:46 p.m. ET on Friday night and military forces arrived at Maduro’s compound by 1:01 a.m. ET on Saturday morning. By 3:29 a.m. on Saturday morning, Caine said, the military forces were back over water with Maduro and Flores.