WEST PALM BEACH, United States — U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that U.S. forces had captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro after launching a "large scale strike" on the South American country. Trump's stunning announcement follows months of steadily mounting U.S. military and economic pressure on leftist leader Maduro and his country's oil-export-dependent economy. "The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country," Trump said on Truth Social. "This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement." Trump added that he would give a news conference at 11:00 am (1600 GMT) at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he is nearing the end of a two-week Christmas and New Year's vacation. In a brief phone interview with The New York Times, Trump hailed the "brilliant" operation. "A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people," the paper quoted Trump as saying. The U.S. army's elite