At Fort Bragg, Trump says Maduro raid showed 'full military might' of US and means 'we are feared'

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump celebrated the special forces members who ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, saying last month's audacious raid means “the entire world saw what the full military might” of the U.S. can do and ensured “we are feared” by potential enemies around the world.

Addressing soldiers and their families at Fort Bragg, one of the world's largest military bases, Trump declared, “Your commander in chief supports you totally.” Then, drawing on one of his own campaign slogans, he implored them, “When needed, you're going to fight, fight, fight. You're going to win, win, win.”

The president and first lady Melania Trump also met privately with military families. Trump said after the meeting that “we saw a lot of heroes” and “these are great patriots.” He said he planned to give a Medal of Honor to “one person” for participating in the Venezuelan operation.

But the visit often felt more like a political rally than an official visit to celebrate the U.S. armed forces. Trump's lauding of the raid that toppled Maduro came only after he called to the stage Michael Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chair who has the president's endorsement as he now runs for Senate in North Carolina.

Whatley thanked Trump and suggested that the president “is giving me an opportunity to represent you” — even though the election isn't until November.

Later, Trump said of the Jan. 3 raid that whisked away Maduro to face U.S. drug smuggling charges, “It was a matter of minutes before he was on a helicopter being taken out.” He called the forces involved “some of our greatest soldiers to ever live, frankly,” while dismissing Maduro as an “outlaw dictator.”

“That night, the entire world saw what the full military might (of) the U.S. military is capable” of, the president said. “It was so precise, so incredible.”

Trump also vowed, “As long as I’m president, we will be the best led, the best trained, the best equipped, the most disciplined and the most elite fighting force the world has ever seen” and noted of would-be U.S. adversaries, “Everybody knows it.”

“They know exactly what they would be up against. Hopefully, we’ll never have to test them and, because of our strength, and because of what we do, we probably won’t have to be tested,” Trump said.

Even still, the president mentioned sending a second aircraft carrier group to the Middle East amid rising tensions with Iran and said, “America's respected again. And, perhaps most importantly, we are feared by the enemies all over the globe.”

“I don't like to say fear,” he said. “But, sometimes, you have to have fear because that's the only thing that really will get the situation taken care of.”

Trump lately has traveled more frequently to states that could play key roles in November’s midterm congressional elections, including a stop before Christmas in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The White House has been trying to promote Trump’s economic policies, including attempts to bring down the cost of living at a time when many people are growing frustrated with his efforts to improve affordability.

The president didn't spend a lot of time on his economic policies on Friday, though he did mention how a White House-backed tax and spending package is increasing funding for military housing.

As he left the White House to make the trip, meanwhile, Trump cheered data released Friday showing that inflation fell to nearly a five-year low last month.

“The numbers were surprising, except to me they weren’t surprising,” Trump said. “We have very modest inflation, which is what you want to have.”

The president also spoke at Fort Bragg in June at an event meant to recognize the 250th anniversary of the Army. But that celebration was overshadowed by his partisan remarks describing protesters in Los Angeles as “animals” and his defense of deploying the military there.

This time, Trump evoked the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina commuter train and called the man accused of committing it a “monster.”

Also Friday, Trump praised Maduro's replacement, acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez. Rather than push for elections in Venezuela, Trump says his administration is inviting top oil companies there to rebuild its energy industry. U.S. officials also have seized tankers as part of their broad oversight of the country's oil industry.

“The relationship is strong, the oil is coming out,” Trump told reporters before flying to North Carolina. He added: “We have our big oil companies going in, they're going to be pumping out the oil and selling the oil for a lot of money.”

Weissert reported from Washington.

President Donald Trump dances as first lady Melania Trump watching after speaking to soldiers and their families at Fort Bragg, N.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

First lady Melania Trump arrives before President Donald Trump speaks to soldiers and their families at Fort Bragg, N.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

President Donald Trump gestures after speaking to soldiers and their families at Fort Bragg, N.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk from the stage after speaking to soldiers and their families at Fort Bragg, N.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

First lady Melania Trump walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, board Air Force One, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, en route to Fort Bragg. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former CNN host turned independent journalist Don Lemon pleaded not guilty to federal civil rights charges Friday, following a protest at a Minnesota church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor. Four others also pleaded not guilty in the case.

Lemon insists he was at the Cities Church in St. Paul to chronicle the Jan. 18 protest but was not a participant. The veteran journalist vowed to fight what he called “baseless charges” and protect his free speech rights.

“For more than 30 years, I’ve been a journalist, and the power and protection of the First Amendment has been the underpinning of my work. The First Amendment, the freedom of the press, are the bedrock of our democracy,” Lemon said outside the courthouse after his arraignment. “And like all of you here in Minnesota, the great people of Minnesota, I will not be intimidated, I will not back down.”

Dozens of supporters gathered outside the courthouse, chanting “Pam Bondi has got to go” and “Protect the press.”

Civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong was among the other defendants who pleaded not guilty Friday. The prominent local activist was the subject of a doctored photo posted on official White House social media that falsely showed her crying during her arrest. The picture is part of a deluge of AI-altered imagery that has circulated since the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis amid President Donald Trump's administration's immigration crackdown.

Levy Armstrong echoed Lemon's defiant words after the hearing.

“We the people have to stand for our rights. We have to stand for the Constitution. We have to stand for our First Amendment rights to freedom of the speech, some freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press,” she said.

“Today we have the federal government trying to weaponize the Department of Justice in order to silence us, in order to prevent us from speaking the truth," Levy Armstrong said. "They are trying to prevent us from calling out a manifest injustice.”

Protesters interrupted a service at the Southern Baptist church last month, chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.

In total, nine people have been charged under the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in relation to the church protest. The FACE Act prohibits interference or intimidation of “any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”

Two more defendants accused in the protest are scheduled for arraignment next week, including another independent journalist, Georgia Fort.

Penalties can range up to a year in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

Renee Carlson, an attorney with True North Legal, which is representing Cities Church, said in a statement that by pleading not guilty Lemon and others are “doubling down on their claim that the press can do whatever they want under the auspices of journalism.”

“The First Amendment does not protect premeditated schemes to violate the sanctity of a sanctuary, disrupt worship services, or intimidate children,” Carlson said. “There is no ‘press pass’ to trespass on church property or conspire to invade religious worship.”

The church protest drew sharp complaints from conservative religious and political leaders. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned in a social media post at the time: “President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship.” Even clergy who oppose the administration's immigration enforcement tactics expressed discomfort.

One of Lemon's attorneys who was in court Friday is Joe Thompson, one of several former prosecutors who have left the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office in recent weeks citing frustration with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown in the state and the Justice Department’s response to the killing of Good and Pretti.

Thompson had led the sprawling investigation of major public program fraud cases for the prosecutors office until he resigned last month. The Trump administration has cited the fraud cases, in which most defendants have come from the state’s large Somali community, as justification for its immigration crackdown.

Associated Press journalists Mark Vancleave in St. Paul and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.

Journalist Don Lemon, right, speaks to the media outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

Journalist Don Lemon speaks to the media outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

Nekima Levy Armstrong, left, speaks to the media alongside Chauntyll Allen, right, outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

People gather outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., in support of journalist Don Lemon and Nekima Levy Armstrong ahead of their hearing Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

People gather outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., in support of journalist Don Lemon and Nekima Levy Armstrong ahead of their hearing Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

Nekima Levy Armstrong, center, speaks outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

Nekima Levy Armstrong, center, speaks outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

Nekima Levy Armstrong, center, speaks outside the U.S. District Courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

Journalist Don Lemon enters the courthouse in St. Paul, Minn., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

Don Lemon arrives at the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

FILE - Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson speaks to reporters at a news conference July 15, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP, File)

Journalist Don Lemon, talks to the media after a hearing at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Journalist Don Lemon, waves to the media after a hearing outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)