US President Donald Trump boasted Friday about a secret weapon, which he called a “discombobulator”, that he said blocked Russian and Chinese defence systems during the Americam military raid in Venezuela in January. He was speaking as he met the elite troops who captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, at Fort Bragg.
Trump’s comments at the military base in North Carolina are the first time that the Republican leader 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. 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,” Trump said in his speech at the base, referring to the suppression of much of Venezuela’s defensive systems during the raid in Caracas on January 3.
Trump, who was accompanied by his wife, Melania, addressed soldiers and military families before meeting the special forces troops involved in the raid.
Trump has previously made brief references to the so-called “discombobulator” without giving many details. “I’m not allowed to talk about it. But let me just tell you, you know what it does? None of their equipment works; that’s what it does. Everything was discombobulated,” Trump said in an interview last week with NBC News.
The raid to capture Nicolas Maduro
The dead in the night operation on January 3 saw US forces swoop in by helicopter under cover of darkness and capture then-president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from a highly secured compound in the Venezuelan capital.
Venezuelan officials confirmed that 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. No US service members were killed, but Donald 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, Nicolas Maduro, on the condition that she comply with his demands on access to oil and on easing state repression.
