ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Trump on Friday said he has no plans to order military strikes within Venezuela.
Mr. Trump rejected reports about possible strikes during a flight on Friday to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
“No,” he said. “No, it’s not true.”
Mr. Trump is waging a military campaign against Venezuelan drug traffickers that is testing the limits of his power as commander in chief. He’s ordered the military to blow up boats allegedly carrying drugs through the Caribbean. The strikes have hit 14 boats and killed over 60 people, sparking international consternation and debate within the U.S. about their legality.
Mr. Trump has built up the U.S. military presence in the region, and signaled in recent weeks that strikes against drug-related targets in Venezuela could be next.
“The land is going to be next,” he told reporters earlier this month.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a strongman long at odds with U.S. administrations, has denied any connections with the drug trade and says Mr. Trump is trying to drive him from power.
Mr. Trump addressed the situation after a multi-country trip to Asia, where he secured various trade deals and reached a trade truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Shortly before meeting with Mr. Xi, Mr. Trump stunned the world by announcing the resumption of U.S. testing of nuclear weapons. Mr. Trump on Friday did not clarify if that meant underground tests or something else.
“You’ll find out very soon, but we’re going to do some testing, yeah,” Mr. Trump said Friday. “Other countries do it. If they’re going to do it, we’re going to do it.”
