US strikes Venezuela, captures Maduro and his wife

The United States hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” early Saturday and said President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of the country after months of stepped-up pressure by Washington an extraordinary nighttime operation announced by President Donald Trump on social media hours after the attack.

The legal authority for the strike and whether Trump consulted Congress beforehand was not immediately clear. The stunning, lightning-fast American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 exactly 36 years ago Saturday.