Trump says ‘we’re going to run’ Venezuela and is not afraid to put U.S. troops on the ground after Maduro’s capture

President Donald Trump signaled an extended American involved in Venezuela after the U.S. military captured Nicolas Maduro to face drug charges in New York.

In comments to reporters on Saturday, Trump said U.S. officials would be in charge and didn’t shy away from putting troops in the country.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe proper and judicious transition,” he said.

Trump also suggested the U.S. would use Venezuela’s oil wealth to pay for the mission and reimburse American companies that operated there previously but whose assets were nationalized by the socialist regime.

In addition, he predicted U.S. energy companies would spend billions of dollars to rebuild the country’s oil infrastructure and boost extraction. At the same time, Trump added that the U.S. oil embargo on Venezuela will remain in effect.

He suggested the U.S. State Department and Pentagon will control Venezuela with the cooperation of officials in the Maduro government.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been in contact with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who said “we’ll do whatever you need,” according to Trump.

“I think she was quite gracious, but she really doesn’t have a choice,” he added. “We’re going to have this done right. We’re not going to just do this with Maduro then leave like everybody else—leave and say, you know, let it go to hell. If we just left, it has zero chance of e...