Trump reunites with the Ice Maiden after she went AWOL during Maduro raid – along with JD Vance

Donald Trump has reunited with his chief of staff Susie Wiles after she was conspicuously absent from Mar-a-Lago during the raid to capture Nicolas Maduro.

She was pictured with Trump on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday as they returned from a House Republican event at the newly renamed Trump-Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. 

Wiles, along with Vice President JD Vance, did not appear in the Situation Room-style photos published by the White House following the attack in the early hours of Saturday.

Her absence was notable as Wiles, who Trump calls ‘the most powerful woman in the world’ and the ‘Ice Maiden,’ is frequently involved in all aspects of the administration. 

She was at Mar-a-Lago for the Volodymyr Zelensky meeting on December 28 and the Benjamin Netanyahu summit the following day. 

But she skipped the Maduro raid because she had come down with the flu, a senior White House official told the Daily Mail. Wiles was fully read into the operation and monitored it from her home via a secure comms link, the official added. 

Wiles said last month in a now-infamous Vanity Fair interview that military action in Venezuela would need congressional approval. Elsewhere in the article she said Trump had an ‘alcoholic’s personality.’

Vance was at Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach on Friday before the strike to discuss the operation. But the VP left before the attack got underway at 1am to avoid a late-night motorcade movement that may have tipped off Venezuelan officials, according to a spokesman.

‘The Vice President joined by secure video conference throughout the night to monitor the operation. He returned to Cincinnati after the operation concluded,’ the spokesman added. 

Trump was joined in his Mar-a-Lago situation room by Secretary of  State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.

The strike was a military triumph, with commentators on the left and right acknowledging the skill in extracting Maduro and his wife from under the noses of his guards at his presidential mansion in Venezuela’s capital.

Not a single American soldier died, while 55 enemy troops were killed.

Questions were immediately raised over the legality of the seizure.

Trump did not seek congressional approval, nor was the action disclosed to the so-called ‘gang of eight’, senior lawmakers from both parties who are often given advanced warning of covert attacks. 

The President on Tuesday railed at Democrats for not giving him credit for the successful military action, despite bipartisan agreement that Maduro was an illegitimate leader.

In 2020, Maduro was indicted in the United States, accused in a decades-long narco-terrorism and international cocaine trafficking conspiracy.

Biden’s administration in his final days in office last year raised the award for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, White House officials have noted. 

‘You know, at some point, they should say, “You know, you did a great job. Thank you. Congratulations.” Wouldn’t it be good?’ Trump said. ‘I would say that if they did a good job, their philosophies are so different. But if they did a good job, I’d be happy for the country. They’ve been after this guy for years and years and years.’

Trump’s latest comments came after Rubio and other top officials briefed leaders in Congress late Monday.

Lawmakers have expressed concerns Trump is embarking on a new era of American expansionism without consulting Congress on his plans. 

After the briefing, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he does not expect the United States to deploy troops to Venezuela, adding this was ‘not regime change.’

Democratic leaders claimed the session lacked clarity.

Americans are split about the capture of Maduro, with many still forming opinions, according to a poll conducted by JL Partners on behalf of the Daily Mail. 

The poll found that 43 percent of registered voters were supportive of Trump’s military action that took place on January 3, while 36 percent were opposed to it.

Maduro pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in New York on Monday.

American special forces captured Maduro and his wife early Saturday in a raid on a compound where they were surrounded by Cuban guards. Maduro’s deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, has been sworn in as Venezuela’s acting president.

Trump has said that his administration will now ‘run’ Venezuela policy and would press the country’s leaders to open its vast oil reserves to American energy companies.