US President Donald Trump makes no secret of the fact that the "completely illegal operation" in Venezuela to capture President Nicolas Maduro was launched because the Americans needed that country's oil, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said an interview with Turkish media. Trump later confirmed the strikes and announced the seizure and removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife from the country. They were taken to the United States and held at a detention facility in Brooklyn, southern New York. On January 5, Maduro and his wife appeared before the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Trump also claimed that the United States would assume interim governance of Venezuela.