Overview
- Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized in Caracas and flown to New York on Saturday, with Maduro now held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
- President Trump said Vice President Delcy Rodriguez had been sworn in to replace Maduro and argued many regime figures tied to narco‑terrorists and U.S. adversaries remain in power.
- Cotton said Washington wants Caracas to halt drug and weapons trafficking, expel Iranian and Cuban personnel, and remove groups such as Hezbollah.
- He called free and fair elections a goal that would take months to organize and said he hopes the government allows the return of political exiles such as María Corina Machado.
- Pressed on reported CIA help in locating Maduro, Cotton declined to discuss intelligence sources, and he interpreted Trump’s remarks as a warning that similar operations could target other indicted Venezuelan leaders.