Trump says US 'will run' Venezuela until 'safe' transition

President Donald Trump said Saturday the United States will "run" Venezuela until a political transition can occur, after the US military operation to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from the country.

"We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," Trump told a press conference, adding that US forces were ready to conduct a second, "much bigger" wave of strikes if necessary.

Trump was addressing a press conference from Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump did not go into detail what he meant, but told the press conference: "We're going to be running it with a group."

"We're designating people," he said, mentioning that cabinet officials standing with him would be in charge.

In another surprise, Trump indicated that US troops could be deployed in Venezuela.

The US is "not afraid of boots on the ground," he said.

Although the operation is being framed as a law-enforcement action, Trump made clear that regime change and Venezuela's oil riches are major goals.

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

"We'll be selling large amounts of oil," he said.

The 79-year-old Republican posted a picture of Maduro in custody on a US naval ship wearing a blindfold, handcuffs and what looked like noise-canceling ear muffs. He and his wife were being taken to New York to face narcotics and terrorism charges.