Sen. John Fetterman praises Trump administration's capture of Maduro in Venezuela: 'Appropriate and surgical'

Fallon Roth, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jan 5, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., on Monday praised President Donald Trump’s order to capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, breaking with most Democrats’ messaging on the military operation that took place early Saturday without congressional authorization.

“I don’t know why we can’t just acknowledge that it’s been a good thing what’s happened ... We all wanted this man gone, and now he is gone,” Fetterman said during an interview on Fox & Friends Monday morning.

Fetterman’s comments come days after the Trump administration orchestrated a strike on Caracas, resulting in the capture of Maduro, Venezuela’s president since 2013, and his wife, Cilia Flores early Saturday morning

The event followed months of escalation by the U.S. military and claims from the Trump administration that Maduro is responsible for large-scale drug trafficking operations. The future of the Venezuelan government is unclear, but Trump has suggested that U.S. involvement will continue.

“I think (the military operation) was appropriate and surgical,” Fetterman said during the interview. “This wasn’t a war, this wasn’t boots on the grounds, and in that kind of way, this was surgical and very efficient, and I want to celebrate our military.”

A Venezuelan official said the strike killed at least 40 people, The New York Times reported.

The military operation provoked mixed reactions from the Philadelphia region’s Venezuelan community, some of whom are thankful for Maduro’s ouster but were concerned by Trump’s comments over the weekend that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela. The incident also garnered sharp disapproval from many Democratic lawmakers.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in a post on X Saturday that Maduro is a “brutal dictator who has committed grave abuses” and that the U.S. military carried out their orders with “professionalism and excellence,” but stressed that Trump’s military operation defies the constitution and is a culmination of a repeated failure by Congress to exercise its check on presidential power.

“We face an authoritarian-minded president who acts with dangerous growing impunity. He has shown a willingness to defy court orders, violate the law, ignore congressional intent, and shred basic norms of decency and democracy,” Booker said. “This pattern will continue unless the Article I branch of government, especially Republican congressional leadership, finds the courage to act.”

Other Democrats and opponents to the military operation have also questioned its legality.

This is not the first time that Fetterman has differed with fellow Democrats on key issues. Recently, the Pennsylvania senator was one of only a handful of Senate Democrats who supported the Republican-led plan to reopen the federal government without addressing the expiration of health care subsidies.

During his interview Monday, Fetterman noted that Democrats, including former President Joe Biden, have wanted the ouster of Maduro. Biden raised the bounty for Maduro’s arrest to $25 million in January 2025, days before Trump took office. The move came after Maduro assumed a third presidential term despite evidence that he lost the election.

“Why have a bounty of $25 million if we didn’t want him gone? Why would you do these things if you weren’t willing to actually do something other than harsh language?” Fetterman said.

_____