President Donald Trump visited Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Friday to honor U.S. special forces and their families for their roles in the high-profile military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in January.
"We have an amazing group of people before me, very proud of you," the president said in an address to military personnel and families on base. "I have no higher honor in life than to be your commander in chief."
He also praised Michael Whatley, former chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) who's running for Senate in North Carolina. "If he gets in, you're going to be taken care of. If he doesn't get in, we're going to be stripped in the military like they always do, the Democrats."
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He also said if Democrats win control in the midterm elections they would change the Fort Bragg name back to Fort Liberty again, as President Joe Biden did during his administration.
"We got it back very quickly, but they took it off. And if we don't win the midterms, they'll take it off again and take it off again. You can't let that happen."
Trump went on: "Our military, if the Democrats get in, we'll be simply early misserved. But we rebuilt it in my first term, and now we're making it stronger and bigger and better than ever before. The recruiting is through the roof."
Trump was joined by first lady Melania Trump, who also spent time with military families during the base visit — one of the largest home stations for U.S. Army special operations forces.
Trump’s social media posts ahead of the visit highlighted what he called "extraordinary" relations between the United States and Venezuela’s interim leadership, including cooperation on oil revenue and transition planning.
After the dramatic capture of Maduro, his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, took over as Venezuela’s leader.
Rodríguez has publicly maintained that both Maduro and Cilia Flores are "innocent," rejecting assertions of wrongdoing that led to their capture. Despite her alignment with Maduro, the U.S. has insisted it could assert influence over her leadership.
In late January, the U.S. and the interim Rodríguez government signed a massive energy pact. The U.S. has already begun marketing Venezuelan crude oil, with proceeds flowing into U.S.-controlled accounts to be disbursed at the discretion of the U.S. government.
Nearly 200 U.S. troops were involved in the Maduro operation, known as Operation Absolute Resolve. Seven were injured.
Venezuela’s defense ministry said 83 people were killed in the mission on its own side, including Venezuelan security forces and 32 Cuban security personnel.
Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is also home to units that could be deployed if diplomatic efforts in the Middle East falter, including Trump’s push for Iran to reach an agreement or face what he has warned could be a "very traumatic" outcome. The visit comes just as the U.S. deployed a second aircraft carrier, the USS Ford, to the region while talks continue.
The Pentagon has not revealed which military units were involved in the operation.
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Trump has repeatedly hailed the Maduro capture as a "spectacular" operation that showed the U.S.’s capability to assert dominance in its own backyard. He called the special operators involved a "group of unbelievable talented patriotic people that love our country. You couldn’t hold them back."
The president has also hinted at a secret weapon he calls the "discombobulator" used in the operation to disable Venezuelan communications and equipment and disorient personnel.
"I’m not allowed to talk about it," Trump said in an interview with NBC News. "But let me just tell you, you know what it does? None of their equipment works, that’s what it does.
"Everything was discombobulated."
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