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At Fort Bragg Trump described 'Operation Midnight Hammer' and claimed capture of Venezuela's leader

February 13, 2026 | Department of State, Executive, Federal


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At Fort Bragg Trump described 'Operation Midnight Hammer' and claimed capture of Venezuela's leader
President Donald J. Trump used remarks at Fort Bragg to describe two military operations he said demonstrated U.S. force and precision: a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities he called "Operation Midnight Hammer," and a night operation he said resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

"Last summer, I ordered devastating strikes on Iran's key nuclear facilities and something that was called Operation Midnight Hammer," Trump said, describing an operation carried out "01:00 in the morning at midnight with no moon" and asserting that "every single one of those 100,000 pound bombs hit its target" and that the action had "totally obliterated" Iran's nuclear potential.

Separately, Trump said U.S. troops "captured the outlaw dictator of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and brought him back to face American justice where he's now right now waiting." He described the operation as rapid and precise and spoke about helicopters and special forces reaching Maduro quickly.

Those operational claims were presented as factual in the remarks but the transcript contains no supporting documents, imagery, or onstage confirmation, and no other speaker in the transcript corroborated or disputed the accounts. The transcript therefore records the president's statements as claims made from the podium rather than independently verified events.

Because the transcript itself contains only the president's assertions about the operations and no onstage verification, reporting on the events requires external confirmation from defense or government records, official after-action statements, or independent reporting.

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