President Donald Trump said a secret U.S. military weapon helped disable Venezuelan defenses during the operation that led to the Jan. 3 capture of Nicolas Maduro, according to an interview published Saturday by the New York Post.
"The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it,”"Trump said, adding that the weapon "made [enemy] equipment not work." While refusing to discuss technical details, Trump confirmed it was used in the mission.
"They never got their rockets off," Trump said. "They had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they never got one off. We came in, they pressed buttons and nothing worked. They were all set for us."
The remarks add new context to what U.S. officials have described as a highly coordinated special operations raid involving Delta Force, electronic warfare, drones, and helicopter insertions that stunned global observers and quickly overwhelmed Maduro’s defenses.
Over 100 people died in a U.S. operation that captured the Venezuelan president and his wife, Cilia Flores, according to Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. Cuba reported 32 of its citizens were killed in the raid; as a close ally, it has supplied security and military support to Maduro for years.
An individual identifying himself as one of Maduro’s guards offered a similar account in a separate interview, claiming Venezuelan radar systems failed moments before the assault.
"Suddenly all our radar systems shut down without any explanation," he said. "The next thing we saw were drones, a lot of drones, flying over our positions."
The witness said several helicopters, "barely eight," then appeared, deploying roughly 20 U.S. troops. He claimed a weapon was directed at Maduro’s defenders that produced overwhelming physical effects.
"It was a massacre. We were hundreds, but we had no chance," the Venezuelan guard said. "They (U.S. forces) were shooting with such precision and speed, it seemed like each soldier was firing 300 rounds per minute. We couldn't do anything."
"At one point, they launched something, I don’t know how to describe it. It was like a very intense sound wave," he continued adding, "Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside."
According to the guard, defenders began bleeding from the nose, some vomiting blood, before collapsing and becoming unable to move.
Trump declined further comment on the weapon, saying only that he would "love to" explain it, but could not.
The guard strongly advised against other nations thinking of crossing the Trump administration.
"I'm sending a warning to anyone who thinks they can fight the United States. They have no idea what they're capable of. After what I saw, I never want to be on the other side of that again. They're not to be messed with."
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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