How the US captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro

WASHINGTON — After months of growing military pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump ordered a brazen operation into the South American country to capture its leader and whisk him to the United States to face trial.

The action marked the culmination of Trump administration's escalating pressure campaign on the oil-rich nation as well as weeks of planning that tracked Maduro's behavioral habits, including what he ate and where he slept.

In a Saturday morning interview on "Fox & Friends Weekend," Trump laid out the details of the overnight strike, after which he said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown by helicopter to a U.S. warship.

Later Saturday, Trump and other officials gave more details during a news conference from his Florida residence.

Maduro was in a 'fortress,' Trump says

Trump described Maduro as being "highly guarded" in a presidential palace that was "like a fortress." Maduro had nearly made it to a safe room inside it, Trump told reporters, although "he was unable to close it."

American forces were armed with "massive blowtorches" they would have used to cut through steel walls if Maduro locked himself in the room, Trump said earlier.

"It had what they call a safety space, where it's solid steel all around," Trump said. "He didn't get that space closed. He was trying to get into it, but he got bum-rushed right so fast that he didn't get into that. We were prepared."

US military prepared for months

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces rehearsed their maneuvers for months, learning everything about Maduro — where he was and what he ate, as well as details of his pets and the clothes he wore.

"We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again, and again," Caine said, noting his forces were "set" by early December. "Not to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong."

Earlier, Trump said U.S. forces practiced their extraction on a replica building.

"They actually built a house which was identical to the one they went into with all the same, all that steel all over the place," Trump said.

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'We turned off all the lights'

Trump said the U.S. operation took place in darkness, though he did not detail how that happened. He said the U.S. turned off "almost all of the lights in Caracas," Venezuela's capital.

"This thing was so organized," he said. "And they go into a dark space with machine guns facing them all over the place."

At least seven explosions were heard in Caracas. The attack, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described as part of "massive joint military and law enforcement raid," lasted less than 30 minutes.

Venezuela's vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, who under law takes power, said some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed.

Trump says 'a couple of guys injured'

Trump said a few U.S. members of the operation were injured but he believed no one was killed.

"A couple of guys were hit, but they came back and they're supposed to be in pretty good shape," he said.

The Republican president said the U.S. lost no aircraft but a helicopter was "hit pretty hard."

"We had to do it because it's a war," he added.

In his news conference, Trump did not mention the injuries or helicopter damage, stressing no American lives were lost. Caine said the helicopter that was struck was able to safely fly on its return.

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Weather was a factor

Trump said U.S. forces held off on conducting the operation for four days, waiting for cloud cover to pass because the "weather has to be perfect."

Caine said on Friday night, "the weather broke just enough, clearing a path that only the most skilled aviators in the world could move through." He said helicopters flew low to the water to enter Venezuela and were covered above by protective U.S. aircraft.

Venezuelans, others around the world react to Maduro's capture