State Department warns US citizens to leave Venezuela

Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, sharply rebuked the administration's actions in Venezuela and President Trump's assertion that the United States would run the country in a statement this afternoon.

"Last night, President Trump waged war on a foreign nation without authorization, without notification, and without any explanation to the American people. Whatever comes next, President Trump will own the consequences," Reed said in a statement.

Reed called Trump's assertion that the United States would run Venezuela "ludicrous."

"No serious plan has been presented for how such an extraordinary undertaking would work or what it will cost the American people. History offers no shortage of warnings about the costs – human, strategic, and moral – of assuming we can govern another nation by force," he said.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a statement about the operation and said he was briefed about it, as well as the plans to imprison Maduro in the city.

"Unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law," he said in a statement.

“This blatant pursuit of regime change doesn’t just affect those abroad, it directly impacts New Yorkers, including tens of thousands of Venezuelans who call this city home. My focus is their safety and the safety of every New Yorker, and my administration will continue to monitor the situation and issue relevant guidance," he added.

Trump was asked about the possibility that the U.S. "ends up administering Venezuela for years."

"Well, you know, it won't cost us anything, because the money coming out of the ground is very substantial," the president said.

"We're going to get reimbursed for everything that we spend. So it's going to be, it's going to be a very important," he added.

Trump said that American oil companies are going to restart operations in Venezuela.

"As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust, for a long period of time. They were pumping almost nothing, by comparison to what they could have been pumping and what could have taken place," Trump said.

"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, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country," Trump added.