The Brief

Updated January 03, 2026 at 18:15 PM ET

This is a developing story. Listen live on your local station or using the player below for the latest on what we know.

Hours after the United States carried out airstrikes overnight in Venezuela and captured the country's President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, President Trump said the U.S. would temporarily take control of the government.

"We're going to run it, essentially," Trump said at a late-morning news conference at Mar-a-Lago. He said that would continue "until such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition."

He said "we are designating various people" to run Venezuela and declined to rule out "boots on the ground."

Just prior to the news conference, Trump posted to social media a photo he said showed a blindfolded Maduro in handcuffs. "Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima" the post read.

Later Saturday, Maduro arrived at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y., according to video footage on CNN.

Trump said Maduro had been captured in "the dead of night," noting that the lights in Caracas "were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we had."

The president made several references to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, a U.S. policy that was originally meant to warn European powers away from interfering in the Western Hemisphere, but eventually came to justify U.S. interventions in Latin America.

"The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we've superseded it by a lot, by a real lot. They now call it the Donroe Doctrine," Trump said. "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."

He said Venezuela's oil business "has been a bust, a total bust for a long period of time."

"We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, going to spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country," he said.

In an answer to a question about the cost of running Venezuela, Trump said: "It's not going to cost us anything because the money coming out of the ground is substantial."

"We're going to get back our oil," Trump said.

In a statement, a Chevron spokesman said the petroleum company "remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets."

Trump's statements followed a series of explosions and fires reported around Caracas in the early hours of the morning.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York on drug, arms and conspiracy charges.

"They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts," she said.

The Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment against Venezuela's president and his wife, adding to previous indictments from 2020.

In an interview on Fox News, Trump said Maduro had tried to negotiate with the U.S. in the final days before his capture -- a request Trump says he refused. "I didn't want to negotiate," Trump said. "I said, 'Nope, we got to do it.'"

Trump described the strike as "unbelievable."

"I think we had nobody killed, I have to say, because a couple of guys were hit, but they came back in. They're supposed to be in pretty good shape," he said.

Trump added: "we were prepared to do a second wave ... but this was so lethal ... but didn't have to."

The Venezuelan government swiftly accused the U.S. of launching what it called a "grave military aggression" against the country. In a statement posted on Telegram, the government said U.S. forces targeted civilian and military locations in Caracas as well as in the nearby states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira, calling the attack a "flagrant violation" of the United Nations Charter.

On state television, Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said government and military officials had been killed by U.S. strikes across Venezuela. She added the government does not know the whereabouts of President Maduro and his wife and demanded proof of life.

Early Saturday morning, Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello appeared flanked by police, saying the Venezuelan government will not be cowed.

Videos circulating on social media platforms and first-person accounts indicated the blasts began around 2 a.m. local time (1 a.m. EST).

A journalist in Caracas, who NPR is not naming for safety reasons, told us they woke up to two explosions at La Carlota military airport, located across the street from their home. They saw two fires on the runway that were quickly extinguished. Immediately afterward, they reported hearing similar detonations in other parts of the city and planes flying low over Caracas for at least an hour.

Pedestrians run after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026.

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The explosions come as the U.S. has been increasing pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration has accused Maduro of leading a drug-trafficking organization known as the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns.

Since late August, the U.S. has deployed aircraft carriers and warships to the Caribbean. The U.S. military has struck dozens of small boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific it claimed were transporting drugs toward the U.S. At least 115 people have been killed in at least 35 known strikes on the vessels.

The U.S. naval flotilla is the largest such deployment to the Caribbean in decades.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted earlier comments by Rubio saying that Maduro is not the legitimate president of Venezuela but instead the head of "a narco-terrorist organization which has taken possession of the country."

In a letter posted on social media, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, said that Edmundo Gonzalez, who is widely regarded as the legitimate winner of the 2024 Venezuelan elections, should assume the presidency. Gonzalez is currently living in exile in Spain.

"Venezuelans, the HOUR OF FREEDOM has arrived!" she wrote in the letter, reacting to Maduro's removal.

"Nicolás Maduro, as of today, faces international justice for the atrocious crimes committed against Venezuelans and against citizens of many other nations. Faced with his refusal to accept a negotiated exit, the United States government has fulfilled its promise to uphold the law."

The White House briefed congressional leadership only after the operation, according to a source familiar with the matter who is not authorized to talk publicly.

"We got no notice at all from the White House or from anyone," said Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro, who is ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

Castro told NPR that Secretary Rubio told lawmakers "that they would come before Congress to get elements and authorization for use of military force for anything that required it."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., praised Trump's actions and said he expects Congress will learn more about the strikes when lawmakers return to Washington this week.

"President Trump's decisive action to disrupt the unacceptable status quo and apprehend Maduro, through the execution of a valid Department of Justice warrant, is an important first step to bring him to justice for the drug crimes for which he has been indicted in the United States," Thune said in a statement.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, said Rubio briefed him on the strike, telling him he anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody. Lee said he looked forward to learning what might constitutionally justify the Venezuela operation in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.

"I definitely support Maduro facing his own people for the crimes he committed in terms of holding power illegitimately," he says. "Whether or not it's up to the United States to make that happen, I think is a different question."

Todd Robinson, a former charge d'affairs in Venezuela during the first Trump administration, who was expelled by Maduro's government in 2018, called the military operation in the country "virtually unprecedented."

Speaking to NPR, Robinson said: "The idea that in our hemisphere, we would go into another country and … arrest the de facto leader of the country.

"Obviously, it doesn't happen every day. … and I think there are a lot of legitimate questions about what comes next," he said.

Maduro has repeatedly accused Washington of attempting to remove him from power in order to gain access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves, among the largest in the world.

Senate Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Rubio confirmed to him that Maduro is in U.S. custody and "will face justice for his crimes against our citizens."

"The interim government in Venezuela must now decide whether to continue the drug trafficking and colluding with adversaries like Iran and Cuba or whether to act like a normal nation and return to the civilized world," Cotton wrote on X.

Congressional Democrats have blasted the action, with Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern calling it an "unjustified, illegal strike on Venezuela."

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said the strike "sends a horrible and disturbing signal to other powerful leaders across the globe that targeting a head of state is an acceptable policy for the U.S. government."

"Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth looked every Senator in the eye a few weeks ago and said this wasn't about regime change. I didn't trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress," Kim wrote in a post on X. "Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war."

Regional reaction has been swift. Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel, a close ally of Venezuela that depends heavily on its oil, denounced the attack as "criminal." Colombia's President Gustavo Petro said his forces are deploying to the Venezuelan border and promised additional support "in the event of a massive influx of refugees." By contrast, Argentina's President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, praised the operation, posting on X: "Freedom advances."

Eyder Peralta contributed reporting from Mexico City. Kelsey Snell and Scott Neuman contributed reporting from Washington.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Early every Saturday for the last three and a half years, William Campbell, 61, leaves his Silver Lake home to be at the Angels Flight station for the first ride at 6:45 a.m.

Campbell is one of a team of operators behind the proverbial wheel of the two near-identical funiculars — named Olivet and Sinai — that go up and down a 33% angle slope from Hill Street to Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles.

“You’re a part of living history,” said Campbell, who is dressed in an orange and black waistcoat and bow tie, and wears a bowler hat with a monarch butterfly on top. There’s a reason for that, he said mysteriously.

Angels Flight on Bunker Hill.

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Today, I am the first rider. Soon after, I am joined by a family visiting from Texas.

“I was just looking at a local tourist place, and I just saw this small, cute railway,” said Michael Nguyen, who was alongside his mother and sister. “I was like, oh, this looks interesting. And I saw that you can actually go on it. I was like, OK, that’s pretty dope.”

Masterminded by lawyer, politician and engineer Col. James Ward Eddy, the Angels Flight “hillevator” opened on New Year’s Eve 1901 as a way for people to travel up and down Bunker Hill, which was then the place where the city’s wealthy population lived.

The journey took them down to the streets and stores below and from 1917, Grand Central Market, with the first passengers paying just a penny fare for what was billed as the “shortest railway in America,” traveling just 298 feet.

When he’s not working his weekday full-time day job investigating animal cruelty and abuse, Campbell spends his spare time looking through online newspaper archives for any information about Angels Flight.

Angels Flight Railway.

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James Bartlett

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Angels Flight Railway.

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Originally located by the 3rd Street Tunnel — at the end of the block from where it is now — the train has been through several changes, as has Bunker Hill itself.

“All the wealthy people moved to Beverly Hills, and Brentwood, and Bel Air, and beyond. And all their wonderful Victorian mansions were turned into boarding houses, and it attracted a lower income, more diverse population, which resulted in blight and crime — at least according to the city,” Campbell said of Bunker Hill's transformation.

City officials authorized Bunker Hill to be all but razed in the 1950s and '60s, and Angels Flight was put into what was promised to be temporary storage for a year or two, despite protests from singer Peggy Lee and others.

The year was 1969. And it took nearly three decades for its return. Angels Flight welcomed passengers again in 1996 to its current location after test runs were made with cases of beer and soft drinks weighing 9,000 pounds. The cable cars were rebuilt exactly as before, but with modern safety requirements, such as Sinai having wheelchair space.

A 2001 accident in which one person died and seven were injured saw another long closure until 2010, and there was a derailment in 2014, which saw another short shuttering. But Angels Flight has been running ever since 2017, save the odd mechanical problem.

William Campbell.

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Angels Flight keepsakes made by William Campbell for riders to take.

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Campbell describes himself as a cheerleader for Angels Flight, and you can easily see why. During his shift he pins up a 1904 photo of the city’s landscape taken from an 80-foot-high observation tower at the original location, so people can compare it to the skyscraper skyline of today.

“At one time you could see all the way to Catalina,” he noted.

There is also a display about near-forgotten Bunker Hill folk artist Marcel Cavalla, and Campbell gives away Angels Flight bookmarks, stickers and maps, all of which he researches, designs and prints out of his own pocket.

One of his projects, old advertisements from 1901 to the 1940s, is displayed in the panels above the seats, and was installed a couple of months ago.

Interior of Angels Flight, showcasing old advertisements from 1901 to the 1940s that Campbell installed.

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One of the vintage ads for Catalina Carrier-Pigeon Service.

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There's everything from old Market Basket supermarket ads, to Barbara Stanwyck shilling for Lux toilet soap, to a standard power mower from John Bean manufacturing, to one for the Catalina Carrier Pigeon Service, which operated from 1894 to 1902, taking messages from Avalon to Bunker Hill.

And the monarch butterfly on his hat? That’s related to his Angels Flight “holy grail,” the one question he can’t definitively answer: why were they painted orange and black?

With that, Campbell grabs his binoculars and sees there are passengers waiting for a ride up, so I get into Olivet and wave goodbye as I travel down to Hill Street.

A group called Neighbors Helping Neighbors has been clearing overgrown weeds for free on fire survivors' empty lots in Altadena.

They’ve finished 10 with many more to go. They’re keeping at it not just to keep things tidy, but to avert another disaster as the region enters fire season — and their efforts are spreading. More than 200 homeowners have signed up, after hearing about the group from its Facebook page and through word of mouth.

“I'm 5 feet 2 inches tall, but there were weeds 6 and 8 feet tall,” said Antoinette “Toni” Bailey-Raines, the ringleader. She is also a co-founder of Altadena Talks Foundation, a nonprofit started in the wake of the Eaton Fire.

Bailey-Raines lives in San Dimas but grew up in Altadena. Her parents and sister all lost their homes in the Eaton Fire.

“I went to my parents' lot one day,” she said. “I loaded up the back of my car with my lawnmower, my blower, my rake, because I wanted to make sure their lot was cleaned up.”

It took seven hours, but she figured all that overgrown vegetation can't be good for Altadena with the fire season just around the corner.

And just like that, the idea for Neighbors Helping Neighbors was born.

Preventing another disaster

Antoinette “Toni” Bailey-Raines, founder of Neighbors Helping Neighbors.

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Antoinette “Toni” Bailey-Raines at one of the cleared lots.

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The very first lot, just south in Pasadena, was cleared in mid-April. Bailey-Raines said the property was getting notices from the city to clear the lot or face escalating fines. Pasadena conducts brush clearance inspections every spring and summer.

Toni said the family had moved to Mississippi after the Eaton Fire.

“You lost everything, and then somebody's gonna tell you they're gonna give you a fine because you have weeds on your lot and you're not even here to see that?” Bailey-Raines said.

That day, she rounded up a group of nine people, including her son and his friend. A neighbor across the street was suspicious at first, but eventually told her, "You have me for about an hour." He stayed for two.

The job took less than four hours.

A growing movement

On May 13, dozens of volunteers showed up in Altadena to clear seven lots in one morning.

One of them — a 14,000-square-foot lot — belongs to Sarkis Aleksanian and his family. He had reached out to Bailey-Raines in late April, after learning about the group from a neighborhood WhatsApp chat.

“I was looking into cleaning up the lot and really daunted by the prospect,” he said. “I was worried that the lawn would dry up and be a problem.”

Aleksanian and his wife were on hand to help out. It’s the one thing that Bailey-Raines requires — for the homeowners to be there.

“I've asked them that if they're able-bodied to be here and help,” she said. “You're here. You're encouraging people, and you're helping on your lot. [Sarkis] was doing everything from weed-eater, to chainsaw, to whatever, and that's what it's about.”

This 14,000-square-foot lot in Altadena was cleaned up in less than two hours on a recently Saturday.

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“It was just remarkable, I tell you,” Aleksanian said. He said he recognized some of the volunteers that morning — folks he sees in the community.

And he did encounter someone he knew — a high school acquaintance from years back. “It's neighbors helping neighbors, just like she called it, you know?” Aleksanian said.

His lot was finished in 90 minutes.

More is needed

With a growing waitlist, what is needed are people and equipment — from gloves and trash bags to the hardware.

“I have six brush cutters and two chainsaws and a couple trimmers, but I need, like, triple that at least,” she said.

Same goes for rechargeable batteries that power these tools — which Bailey-Raines juices up with generators they bring on-site.

A number of organizations — including Neighborhood Survants, Altagether, Project Passion, My Tribe Rise, Dena Heals — have granted money and donated equipment and manpower. Bailey-Raines has also put in her own money.

“My dream is one Saturday morning to have 500 people and that we clear a whole street, a whole block — so that this list of 200 can go down, and as others hear about it, they get on it, and we as a community do this as neighbors to help one another,” she said.

After fires and floods, Southern California’s only remaining native freshwater turtle recently got a boost.

Just last month, 15 southwestern pond turtle hatchlings were released into the San Gabriel River — a major milestone in an effort to restore the vulnerable turtle population.

But this wasn’t a typical raise-and-release scenario.

These turtles’ parents went on a harrowing journey before they were born.

A daring rescue

In early September 2020, amid a heat wave and dry weather, a tree branch hit a Southern California Edison power line, igniting the Bobcat Fire.

The fire eventually scorched more than 180 square miles — mostly forest in the San Gabriel Mountains. For comparison, the 2025 Eaton Fire burned about 22 square miles.

Lights from a fire truck illuminate firefighters working the Bobcat Fire in September 2021.

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Frederic J. Brown

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As the Bobcat Fire spread, biologists grew worried. The fire was burning in the West Fork of the San Gabriel River, a biodiversity hotspot and refuge for bears and mountain lions, the federally protected Santa Ana sucker fish and the mountain yellow-legged frog.

It’s also home to the largest remaining — and possibly only — population of southwestern pond turtles in the entire watershed. Their exact numbers aren’t known, but it’s likely less than 200.

“Because this hadn’t burned in decades and decades and decades, there was big concern about debris flows,” said Robert Fisher, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

Scientists hoped the turtles would be able to ride out the fire itself by staying in the water, but any rain after would likely lead to a deluge of mud, trees and other burned materials. That would be akin to an avalanche for the turtles in the river, and it had the potential to wipe out the entire population.

Once the flames died down, Fisher and a team of biologists, in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Forest Service, trekked to the home of the pond turtles.

“It was a moonscape,” Fisher said.

They waded through ashy, murky waters, eventually collecting 11 adult turtles.

A temporary home and 15 surprises

The turtles were taken to the San Diego Zoo, where the plan was to hold them until their mountain habitat recovered enough for them to return.

By 2024, the San Gabriel Mountains were looking far better — biologists even found some pond turtles that survived major debris flows.

But right before the turtles were set to go back home, scientists got a surprise.

“Just before we were getting to release, we found a baby turtle, which is amazing,” said Brandon Scott, wildlife care manager of herpetology and ichthyology at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “You don't know how long it's going to take to restart that process of them actually being able to breed, with the stress and it's a new habitat.”

A juvenile southwestern pond turtle is weighed before being released to the wild.

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The turtles and the new baby were all returned to their home in the San Gabriels. But then came another surprise. And another.

“We just continually, every day, started finding a baby in that habitat,” said Scott.

Female southwestern pond turtles lay and bury their eggs in late spring or early summer. Juveniles emerge months later, only about the size of a quarter.

Fifteen babies later, conservation staff were shocked and pleased.

Their goal for the 11 rescued turtles was to make sure they could thrive before being released back into their habitat. “But in the process,” Scott said, “yes, we made it comfortable enough for them to breed.”

A hopeful release

The new generation of southwestern pond turtles was released in April near the spot their parents were rescued from in the San Gabriel River.

Such rescues of vulnerable wildlife are becoming increasingly common in the face of more catastrophic fires. All but two of the biggest fires in recorded history have been in the last 20 years.

Fisher said a similar rescue of pond turtles had occurred only once before, after the 2009 Station Fire in the San Gabriels. That time, the turtles were quickly returned to their habitat.

A staff member of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance releases a juvenile southwestern pond turtle into the San Gabriel River.

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That rescue, in part, inspired the U.S. Geological Survey to work with the San Diego Zoo to build a conservation habitat for southwestern pond turtles nearly two decades ago. And the Bobcat Fire became the first time it was used for wild rescues, Fisher said.

Ironically, the Bobcat Fire could eventually help the local population, Fisher said.

“We’ve known about [the population] for decades, but it’s not really thriving,” he said. “So this helped give it a head start. And because the fire was so intense, it opened up a lot of habitat.”

With less tree canopy and more sunlight, the cold-blooded reptiles could thrive in warmer waters and on sunnier rocks.

But the new generation is key.

“Because the site was so forested and hadn’t burned in so long, we don’t think they were having good success at breeding,” Fisher said. “Now we think we’ve really enhanced the population by putting more animals out there, especially young animals.”

Scott and Fisher said the saga has inspired preliminary conversations about formalizing breeding efforts to support the population. The little turtles' myriad threats have yet to let up, so they’ll likely need more help in the future.

But at the moment, there’s a little more hope — at least 16 hatchlings and 11 adults' worth of hope, to be exact — for California’s only native freshwater turtle.