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The capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro “was not just a drug issue,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday in her first interview about the military operation on “Hannity.”
Maduro and other defendants could face charges elsewhere, Bondi said.
“Nothing is off the table,” Bondi told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “These people need to stay behind bars. They are responsible for the loss of so many lives and they are not street drug dealers. They are drug dealers.”
On Monday, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, plead not guilty for narcoterrorism and other charges in federal court.
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The Justice Department says Maduro provided “Venezuelan diplomatic passports to drug traffickers and facilitated diplomatic cover for planes used by money launderers to repatriate drug profits from Mexico to Venezuela.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro greets his supporters during a rally in Caracas on December 1, 2025. (Pedro Mattey/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A man who had an exchange of letters with Maduro in a Manhattan courtroom told Fox News the dictator declared himself a “prisoner of war” and himself to Jesus.
“I am innocent, I am not guilty,” Maduro told the court. “I am a decent man. I am still president of my country.”
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Some Democrats have criticized the military operation as a violation of state sovereignty, comparing it to the actions of former President George W. Bush in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Bondi insisted that “Operation Absolute Resolve” was “within” the President. donald trumpconstitutional authority in response to criticism.
People escorted off the plane believed to be carrying Maduro, his wife, after Operation Absolute Resolve under cover of darkness. (WNYW)
“It was a police function to arrest individuals ordered in Venezuela,” Bondi explained. “Our military achieved impeccable execution of that.”
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He went on to emphasize that Saturday’s sting operation “saved countless lives.”
“The president saved thousands, countless lives tonight,” Bondi said. “But it also protected Americans from the TDA. [Tren de Aragua] members who allowed Maduro to enter our country, forced to enter our country.”
Captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appear with their attorneys Barry Pollack and Mark Donnelly at their arraignment in federal court in New York City on Monday, January 5, 2026. (Jane Rosenberg)
The attorney general listed several murder victims of Venezuelan gang members, including 22-year-old Laken Riley and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.
“It’s horrible and it’s going to stop,” he promised.
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Although Trump has said The United States will temporarily “rule” VenezuelaMaduro’s allies in the government have disputed the claim.
The Venezuelan dictator and his wife will appear in court again on March 17.