Nearly 200 US forces were in the capital Caracas for Venezuela operation to capture President Nicolas Maduro, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday.
"As nearly 200 of our greatest Americans went downtown in Caracas.
"Seems those Russian air defenses didn't work so well, did they?" Hegseth said at an event in Newport News, Virginia.
President Donald Trump said US military action on Saturday had resulted in the capture of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, also pledging to assert American control over the country for the time being, with US troops if necessary.
Hegseth said the forces "grabbed an indicted individual wanted by American justice in support of law enforcement, without a single American killed."
Maduro and his wife landed in New York late Saturday and are being held at a detention center in Brooklyn. The pair pleaded not guilty Monday to a series of gun and drug charges brought by the Trump administration.
