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Trump claims US used mysterious 'sonic weapon' during Venezuela raid, brags 'nobody else has it'

According to the US President, no other country owns such a device. He added that United States is in possession of certain weapons that nobody else is even aware of.

January 22, 2026 / 10:58 IST
US President Donald Trump
Snapshot AI
  • Trump claims US used a secret sonic weapon in Maduro's capture operation
  • No details given on the device; Trump says only US possesses such weapons
  • Russia urges US to reveal details on alleged sonic weapon in Venezuela raid

Donald Trump has claimed that the US military used what it calls a 'secret sonic weapon' during the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3. He, however, did not provide any details about the mysterious device.

According to the US President, no other country owns such a device. He added that United States is in possession of certain weapons that nobody else is even aware of.

Trump, who confirmed using the secret sonic weapon during an interview on the NewsNation programme Katie Pavlich Tonight, said it's probably best not to get into the details of its features.

When asked whether Americans should be concerned about the powers of the so-called secret sonic weapon, Trump reportedly raised his eyebrows and said 'Well yeah'.

"It's something I don't wanna ... nobody else has it. But we have weapons nobody else knows about. And, I say it's probably good not to talk about it, but we have some amazing weapons," he said.

Rumors about the use of a sonic weapon began circulating weeks earlier after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared an account claiming that a device deployed during the raid had caused Venezuelan soldiers to bleed from their noses and vomit blood.

"That was an amazing attack," Trump said during the interview referring to the Venezuelan raid.

Leavitt, who was reading from an eyewitness account, said that Maduro's guards claimed they was unable to stand after the weapon was activated. "At one point, they launched something; I don’t know how to describe it ... It was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly, I felt like my head was exploding from the inside," Fox News said quoting the statement.

"We all started bleeding from the nose. Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move. We couldn't even stand up after that sonic weapon — or whatever it was," the witness added.

With questions mounting over what exactly the weapon is, Russia has called on the United States to provide details about the device. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia's special services have been instructed to look into and gather more details about Trump's comments.

Maduro was captured on January 3 during a US military operation after Washington accused him of trafficking drugs into the United States. Caracas has repeated rejected the claims. Venezuela's interior minister later said the assault on Maduro's compound left at least 100 people dead. However, it remains unclear if any of those deaths were connected to the usage of the so-called secret sonic weapon.

Moneycontrol News
first published: Jan 22, 2026 10:58 am

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