Trump Says The U.S. Will 'Run' Venezuela After Capturing Maduro
The NPR Politics Podcast
NPR
4.4 • 25.7K Ratings
🗓️ 3 January 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
This episode: political correspondent Sarah McCammon, White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez, justice correspondent Ryan Lucas and national security correspondent Greg Myre.
This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.
Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's something wrong with the plumbing in Cincinnati. Billions of gallons of raw sewage |
| 0:04.3 | ends up in waterways every year. And for some, that raw sewage is a lot closer to home. |
| 0:09.7 | When it's coming out of the drain down there, it's sewage. The stench was terrible. |
| 0:14.7 | Listen to the Backed Up podcast from the NPR Network and Cincinnati Public Radio. |
| 0:23.9 | Hey there. it's the NPR Politics Podcast. |
| 0:26.3 | I'm Sarah McCammon. I cover politics. |
| 0:28.4 | I'm Frank O'Donias. I cover the White House. |
| 0:30.4 | I'm Ryan Lucas. I cover the Justice Department. |
| 0:32.4 | And I'm Greg Myrie. I cover national security. |
| 0:35.5 | It is 1.45 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, January 3rd. |
| 0:40.4 | The United States has captured Venezuela's President Nicholas Maduro and his wife, |
| 0:45.4 | and both of them are headed to U.S. soil. |
| 0:47.8 | A short while ago, President Trump made that announcement. |
| 0:50.2 | Late last night and early today, at my direction, the United States Armed Forces conducted an |
| 1:01.5 | extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela. Overwhelming American military |
| 1:10.6 | power, air, land, and sea was used to launch a spectacular |
| 1:15.4 | assault. And it was an assault like people have not seen since World War II. |
| 1:23.0 | Franco, you've been following this. What can you tell us about how this extraordinary action played out overnight? |
| 1:30.1 | Yeah, President Trump said he actually watched the operation in real time from a room in Mara Lago along with some generals. |
| 1:36.9 | And one of those generals, Dan Cain, head of the Joint Chief of Staff, gave some details in today's presser. |
| 1:43.0 | He said the operation was named Absolute Resolve. He said that |
| 1:46.8 | more than 150 aircraft from across the hemisphere were involved. The U.S. actually dismantled |
... |
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