US President Donald Trump posted a series of photos on his Truth Social account on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 3) showing what he looked like and senior officials monitoring the US military operation targeting Venezuela.
The images, shared in rapid succession, appeared to show Trump sitting at a conference table next to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and other officials watching live feeds and reviewing operational maps as the strikes unfolded.
Trump did not provide detailed captions explaining the timing or location of the images, but the posts followed his public remarks earlier in the day in which he claimed that US forces conducted a nighttime operation in Caracas that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The posts quickly attracted widespread attention on social media and contributed to increased scrutiny of the administration’s claims about the scope and outcome of the Venezuelan operation.
Trump ‘watched the operation in real time’
Trump previously said he was watching the military operation from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida during a phone call with Fox News.
“I was able to watch it in real time and I watched every aspect of it and I listened to the communications between, you know, where we were in Florida and on the ground in Venezuela,” he said.
“It was amazing to see the professionalism, the quality of leadership, the professionalism.
Kudos to the American forces
Trump also praised the US forces involved and underlined the sophistication of the military equipment used during the night operation.
“It was amazing to see how good they were, how professional they were, how incredible the equipment we have – I mean the level of equipment and to see how perfectly it worked,” he said.
He confirmed that there were no US deaths during the mission, only minor injuries.
“To have a few injuries but no deaths on our side is really amazing,” Trump added.
