Georgia Howe

Now, President Donald Trump confirmed the strikes around 3 a.m.

and also announced a press conference that we'll hear from in a second.

Then, by about 6 a.m., Attorney General Pam Bondi issued her own statement detailing charges against Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores.

The two have been indicted in the Southern District of New York for narco-terrorism conspiracy conspiracy.

cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.

Now, as we've been documenting on this show, there has been a rapid escalation of tensions between the U.S.

and Venezuela over first drug boats and then oil shipments.

The U.S.

had seized two oil takers off the

And Trump had repeatedly demanded that Maduro step down or face more consequences.

The last we heard from Maduro, he was desperately trying to claim that he was, quote, ready to talk about an agreement to combat drug trafficking.

Apparently.

Right, so just before noon, President Trump addressed the nation from Mar-a-Lago.

First, he stressed that we lost no soldiers in the operation, and he touted the United States' military expertise in carrying it out.

In fact, he said, the mission was so successful that while they'd planned for a second set of even stronger strikes, it doesn't appear to be necessary.

He forcefully made the case for the strikes, blaming Maduro for Trend de Aragua flooding into the United States.

That group's been designated a foreign terrorist organization by his administration.

And as the indictment against Maduro lays out, the administration sees him as the key player in narco-terrorism operations from Venezuela into the United States.

As for what will happen in the coming days in Venezuela, the president said the U.S.

is going to effectively run the country as it transitions to a new government that will be legitimate, unlike Maduro's.