Washington DC [US], January 7 (ANI): Calling the deposed Venezuelan leader an 'usurper', former US NSA John Bolton said that the 'capture' of Nicolas Maduro was not going after a legitimate head of state but rather, going after a 'rogue leader of a criminal gang'.

When asked about the legal and diplomatic ramifications of the US capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Former National Security Advisor of the United States, John Bolton told ANI, 'Maduro was a usurper. He wasn't the legitimate head of Venezuela. The circumstances are a little bit different now, but not that much... In 2024, Maduro stole the presidential election. Edmundo Gonzalez, the opposition leader, who won, is the legitimate president of Venezuela. Maria Corina Machado has supported US efforts to oust the Maduro regime. So we're not going after a legitimate head of state, we're going after a rogue leader of a criminal gang that's ruled Venezuela sadly for almost 30 years. So I think what we did was within the international law'.

Answering whether White House and Congress need reforms, as some argued that Congress wasn't notified about the US attacking Venezuela, he told ANI, 'Congress has the power to declare war... It helps define the legal relationships between the combatants, their allies, their trading partners, and others, but Congress does not have the power to make war. The framers specifically considered that and limited Congress's role to declaring war. In the beginning, the president's commander-in-chief and his authority to use force when necessary is clearly within the limits of the Constitution. You can debate the wisdom, the political prudence of acting without going to Congress first. This case is a good example of that, where Congress felt left out. And now there's a lot of opposition in Congress for that reason. But that's a political and prudential question. It's not a constitutional question.'

On Saturday, Washington carried out a 'large-scale strike against Venezuela', and the deposed dictator, Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured and taken out of the country.

In a press conference hours after Maduro was 'captured', Trump said on Saturday (local time) said that the oil companies in the United States will 'spend billions of dollars' to fix the broken oil infrastructure in Venezuela and 'start making money' for the South American nation.

While addressing a press conference in Florida, Trump said the United States was in the 'oil selling' business and would provide it to other countries interested in buying.

'We're in the oil business. We're going to sell it to them (other countries). We'll be selling oil probably in much larger doses because they (Venezuela) couldn't produce very much because their infrastructure was so bad. So we'll be selling large amounts of oil to other countries, many of whom are using it now. But I would say many more will come.'

Trump said that the oil business in Venezuela has been a 'total bust' and will be fixed with billions of dollars of investment by oil companies in the United States to fix the 'badly broken oil infrastructure'. He also said that Venezuela's poor infrastructure had limited its own oil production.

Maduro and Flores were captured in Caracas and flown out of the country in a joint operation involving intelligence agencies and US law enforcement.

Trump stated that Maduro and his wife have been indicted on charges of alleged 'drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies' in the Southern District of New York and will face trial. (ANI)