Former President Donald Trump expressed deep concern over the potential consequences if the operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro had failed, fearing it might overshadow his presidency with a disastrous legacy.

Trump reportedly shared his apprehensions that a mishap could be likened to the infamous failures of past administrations, such as Jimmy Carter’s unsuccessful Iran hostage rescue in 1980 and Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, both of which resulted in American casualties.

However, the Delta Force mission executed on January 3, 2026, concluded without any U.S. fatalities. In contrast, the operation led to the deaths of approximately 70 Venezuelan and Cuban individuals over its intense two-hour duration.

While seven American troops sustained injuries, five have already resumed their duties. The mission’s flight leader, who orchestrated the extraction and piloted the Chinook helicopter, was seriously injured after being hit three times. He and another soldier are currently recovering in a Texas hospital, as announced by military officials on Tuesday.

Trump Claims Mission Success Over Past Presidential Failures 

In conversations with the New York Times, Trump highlighted the mission’s success as a testament to his leadership, drawing a stark comparison to the shortcomings faced by previous U.S. presidents.

Trump, speaking with the New York Times, contrasted this mission’s success to the failures of his predecessors.

‘You know you didn’t have a Jimmy Carter crashing helicopters all over the place, that you didn’t have a Biden Afghanistan disaster where they couldn’t do the simplest maneuver,’ he said.

The president also said during the two-hour interview that he plans for the US to operationally run Venezuela – and control its oil extraction – for years to come.

No Timeline Given for American Oversight 

Asked if the US would remain overseers of the country for months, a year or longer, Trump revealed: ‘I would say much longer.’

‘Only time will tell,’ he added when asked for a specific timeline. 

Trump watched from a make-shift situation room in the ‘winter White House’ at Mar-a-Lago while the January 3 operation unfolded in Venezuela.

Throughout the whole thing, the president said he was worried it could end up being a ‘Jimmy Carter disaster.’

‘That destroyed his entire administration,’ Trump insisted. ‘I don’t know that he would have won the election, but he certainly had no chance after that disaster.’

How the Iran Crisis Shaped a Lost Re-Election Bid 

Carter green-lit an effort in April 1980 to free 52 American hostages held in Iran. But a helicopter crash during the operation resulted in the deaths of eight service members – five Airmen and three Marines – and no hostages were freed. The crisis continued for months until the hostages were finally released as Carter left office in January 1981.

His reelection loss was largely credited to that hostage rescue failure.

More than 40 years later, Biden had a similar high-profile military defeat as he withdrew all US forces from Afghanistan in his first year in office.

Thirteen American service members died on August 26, 2021 during a terrorist attack at Abbey Gate, Kabul Airport, while assisting in evacuations. This included 11 Marines, one Army soldier and one Navy corpsman.

Trump Closely Oversaw Elite Forces’ Training 

Another 170 Afghan civilians died in the attack, and the handling of the withdrawal was largely seen as a failure of the Biden administration when it was supposed to be a massive win in finally bringing an end to the 20-year war.

Trump told the Times that he closely tracked training of the special forces who conducted the operation.

They erected at a military facility in Kentucky a life-size replica of Maduro’s compound so forces could practice the operation.

During a 5:30PM intelligence briefing at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, January 2, 2026, Trump gave the green-light for the operation to move forward. It was conducted that night in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Trump said that the interim government, all former Maduro-loyalists, are ‘giving us everything that we feel is necessary.’

A New Interim Leader Installed in Caracas 

Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, was installed as acting president and has been holding calls with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

‘We will rebuild it in a very profitable way,’ Trump told the New York Times. ‘We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil. We’re getting oil prices down, and we’re going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need.’

The US plans to assume control of selling oil extracted from Venezuela as part of a three-phase plan Rubio outlined for members of Congress this week.

Lawmakers were not notified of the operation ahead of time, with Trump saying at a Saturday press briefing that he didn’t want Congress to leak anything and risk the successful capture and extradition of Maduro.

How Maduro basked in $700M fortune 

Nicolás Maduro came from humble beginnings.

Born to a working class family in 1962 in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, it might have been expected that he would dearly hold onto those roots as he took office in 2013. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Having led Venezuela for more than a decade, Maduro, 63, is believed to have built up a vast fortune that is made up of a portfolio of properties around the world, multiple luxury vehicles and watches.

All the while, the socialist dictator’s country starved. During his reign, which appeared to have met an abrupt end on Saturday after American troops kidnapped him and his wife Cilia Flores, 69, from his heavily secured compound in Caracas, he collapsed the nation’s economy. 

In the 1970s and 1980s, Venezuela was the wealthiest nation in South America and was in the top 20 richest countries in the world, amid a massive oil boom.

But under Maduro, the country’s GDP fell by more than two-thirds between the start of his reign in 2013 to 2022.

All the while, Maduro hoarded wealth at an astonishing rate, culminating in the US confiscating a massive $700million worth of assets from him in 2025.

One of the lavish properties he is rumoured to have been linked to is Villa La Caracola, a massive mansion in the Dominican Republic worth an estimated $18million (£13million).

Located in the exclusive gate Cap Cana community on the eastern coast of the country, the mansion has direct sea views, and access to a plethora of amenities that Maduro’s fellow countrymen could only dream of.

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