(AFP) – President Donald Trump boasted Friday about a secret US “discombobulator” weapon that can block Russian and Chinese defense systems, as he met the elite troops who captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Trump’s comments at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina marked the first time he has talked about the mysterious device at a public event, after previously letting some details slip in interviews.
“They even talk about the discombobulator, because they never got a shot off,” Trump told soldiers at the base, referring to the suppression of much of Venezuela’s defensive systems during the January 3 raid. “The Russian equipment didn’t work. The Chinese equipment didn’t work. Everyone’s trying to figure out why it didn’t work. Someday you’re going to find out, but it didn’t work.”
Trump, who was accompanied by his wife Melania, addressed soldiers and military families before meeting the special forces troops involved in the raid. The stunning operation saw US forces swoop in by helicopter under cover of darkness and capture then-president Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from a highly secured compound in the Venezuelan capital.
Eighty-three people were killed and more than 112 people were injured in the assault, which began with US bombing raids on Venezuelan military targets, Venezuelan officials said. No US service members were killed but Trump said three helicopter pilots were injured. Maduro is now in detention in the United States facing charges of drug trafficking and other crimes, to which he has pleaded not guilty. His next court hearing is scheduled for March 17 in New York.
Trump approved former vice president Delcy Rodriguez to replace her deposed boss Maduro on the condition that she comply with his demands on access to oil and on easing state repression. The US president has repeatedly hailed the Maduro operation as an example of his country’s military might as he asserts Washington’s right to dominate its backyard.
Trump has previously made brief references to the so-called “discombobulator” without giving many details. “I’m not allowed to talk about it,” Trump said in an interview last week with NBC News. “But let me just tell you, you know what it does? None of their equipment works, that’s what it does. Everything was discombobulated.”
– Mandel Ngan with Danny Kemp in Washington
© 2024 AFP
