President Trump announced at 4:21 a.m. ET that the U.S. struck Venezuela, "captured" President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of his oil-rich South American country along with his wife.

• The world-shaking announcement follows Trump's monthslong pressure campaign against Maduro.

Why it matters: American interventionism is back, in Trumpian technicolor, Axios' Dave Lawler reports.

• In just under a year, Trump has conducted massive strikes on Iran's nuclear program, bombed six additional countries, most recently Nigeria, appointed himself chair of a governing board for Gaza, and sent a massive flotilla to Venezuela to blow up drug boats and, it's now clear, to depose a sitting world leader.
• He's done most of that without seeking approval from Congress or trying to build any kind of international legitimacy.

⚖️ The latest: Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on X that "Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States."

• "They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts."

📱 In a brief phone interview with The New York Times after the announcement, Trump celebrated the success of the mission: "A lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people ... It was a brilliant operation, actually."

• 🌴 Trump will give a news conference at 11 a.m. ET from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., where he's spending New Year's week.

🇻🇪 On the ground: At least seven explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas early this morning. Maduro's government accused the U.S. of attacking civilian and military installations, AP reports.

• Ahead of the explosions in the capital, the FAA issued a ban on U.S. commercial flights in Venezuelan airspace because of "ongoing military activity."

🏛️ What to watch: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who initially expressed skepticism about the legal basis for the strikes, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed him in a phone call that they were to "protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant."

Go deeper: Maduro's capture draws echoes of Noriega in 1990, by Axios' Ben Berkowitz.

• Trump faces quick criticism from Dems, by Axios' Andrew Solender & Stephen Neukam.

Fire today at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela's largest military complex, after a series of predawn explosions in Caracas, the capital.

The fort fire after loud explosions, accompanied by sounds resembling aircraft flyovers, were heard in Caracas around 2 a.m. local time (1 a.m. ET).

In a race against time to cement his legacy, President Trump has lined up a series of mega-projects with a single deadline — 2028 — and little room for error, Axios' Noah Bressner writes.

• Why it matters: With three years left in his term, Trump is unleashing the full force of the federal government to push legacy assignments.

1. 🌕 A new moonshot: Trump set a 2028 target for a crewed return to the moon last month, reviving a long-delayed goal that has slipped across multiple administrations because of technical challenges, cost and shifting priorities.

• Trump's plan also calls for establishing a permanent moon base by 2030.

2. 🥂 White House ballroom: Trump's new 1,000-person ballroom on the site of the former East Wing is expected to be completed in the summer of 2028, according to a National Park Service assessment revealed in a court filing.

• Trump says the grand ballroom is projected to cost $400 million, funded via private donations, and will span 90,000 square feet.

3. ✈️ New Air Force One: The first of two new Air Force One jets from Boeing is now expected to be delivered in mid-2028 — six years behind the project's original schedule.

• Those two jets are separate from the Boeing 747-8 that Trump accepted from Qatar, which is currently being retrofitted for presidential use.

4. 🚀 Golden Dome demo: Trump has directed his administration to have a prototype for his ambitious new missile shield project ready by 2028.

Reality check: Big government projects rarely run on schedule. But delivering even one of these accomplishments would leave Trump with a tangible, enduring legacy.

White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston told Axios that Trump is "fully committed to delivering on every promise he made to the American people."

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The Midwest is winning on affordability — and attracting coastal transplants. The advantage is two-pronged, The Wall Street Journal reports:

1. "The region has the lowest median sales price for existing homes in the country, at $319,400 in November versus $409,200 nationwide, according to the National Association of Realtors. Rents in major Midwestern cities are also lower than the national median, according to Bank of America data."
2. "Year-over-year wage growth has been climbing more steadily in the Midwest over the past year than it has in other regions, according to Bank of America deposit data."

🧀 The intrigue: A stretch of Wisconsin, along the Fox River from Oshkosh to Green Bay, stands out.

• Just 1 in 7 homeowners there spends 30+% of their income on housing, compared with 1 in 5 nationally, WSJ notes.

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David Sacks, a top tech founder and investor who's the White House AI and crypto czar, posted on X on New Year's Day, after the inauguration of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, that Miami will "replace" New York as the nation's finance capital and Austin will supplant San Francisco as the tech capital.

• Why it matters: Sacks, co-host of the top Silicon Valley podcast "All-In," is a thought leader among tech elites, and powerful voice with President Trump. The Sunbelt has been leading the nation's population growth.

On New Year's Eve, Sacks had posted that Craft Ventures, his San Francisco-based venture-capital firm, "has opened an Austin office. God bless Texas and happy new year!"

• Responding to a post about falling rents in Austin, where Elon Musk moved Tesla's HQ, Sacks wrote: "Great time to move to Austin."

Salena Zito, an author and columnist with family roots in Pittsburgh, responded to Sacks: "Or Pittsburgh will be the tech capital."

• Get Axios Austin ... Get Axios Miami ... Get Axios Pittsburgh ... 31 other Axios Local cities.

Traffic to top websites has fallen by 11+% in the past five years, Axios media trends expert Sara Fischer writes from Similarweb data.

• Why it matters: It shows the challenges traditional publishers face in the AI era. Internet usage and adoption continue to grow, but older websites are struggling to win the attention war.

🔗 Those older sites don't just magically disappear. They continue to rot on the open web for years, clouding search results and leaving behind trails of broken or outdated links.

Friction point: Data shows that AI chatbot referral traffic to top media and news websites is roughly 96% lower than traditional Google search.

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Lawyers at some firms cashed in on bonuses of $300,000+ at the end of the year.

• Why it matters: "The large payouts to associates — who tend to be in their 20s and early- to mid-30s — underscore how competitive the legal market has become, with the best-paid lawyers now roughly on par with their investment banking peers," the Financial Times reports.

👀 Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York announced total bonuses for associates worth up to $315,000.

• Elsberg Baker & Maruri, also in New York, shelled out bonuses up to $226,250.
• Katten Muchin Rosenman in Chicago offered as much as $172,500 to its top associates plus extra "superstar bonuses."

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A new, increasingly popular resolution is joining the classics, like losing weight and cutting back on alcohol: People are pledging to curtail screen time.

• "A survey by the digital-wellness app Opal (granted, a bit of a biased audience) found that 33% of 1,306 users said reducing screen time and being more present was their top New Year's resolution," The Wall Street Journal reports.

Between the lines: Some apps are easier to quit than others.

• In a study published in November in JAMA Network Open, researchers led 18- to 24-year-olds through a digital detox and found that they struggled more to give up video-based apps like TikTok and Snapchat than text-based ones like Facebook and X.

Gift link ... 4 digital detox tips.