Plane Carrying Venezuela's Maduro Lands in New York

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, landed at Stewart Air Force Base in Newburgh, New York, on Saturday afternoon after being captured by U.S. special forces during Operation Absolute Resolve.

Photos from the base published by WNYW showed law enforcement officers wearing jackets labeled Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) flanking a Department of Justice aircraft.

Dozens of federal agents surrounded Maduro as he was ushered from the plane to a hangar.

The pair have been charged with narcoterrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons offenses.

Maduro and Flores are expected to be taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn, to be housed after being processed by the DEA.

"They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts," Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

Hours after a dramatic military operation ousted Maduro from power and removed him from the country Saturday, President Donald Trump said the United States would "run" Venezuela at least temporarily and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.

U.S. operations on Saturday represented America's most assertive action to achieve regime change in a country since the nation's 2003 invasion of Iraq. The actions raise stark new questions about the legality of the U.S. moves under a broader campaign against the South American nation.

The middle-of-the-night seizure of Maduro and his wife, who were transported on a U.S. warship and arrived in New York on Saturday evening to face narcoterrorism conspiracy charges, is beyond even the most high-profile historical examples of aggressive American actions toward autocratic governments in Panama, Iraq, and beyond, legal experts said. It came after a surprise U.S. incursion into the Venezuelan capital, rocked with overnight explosions.

The Trump administration described the operation — and earlier deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea — as necessary to stem the flow of dangerous drugs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.