Trump says the U.S. took out a ‘big facility’ in Venezuela amid strikes on alleged drug boats

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said in an interview on WABC radio in New York that the United States had “destroyed” a Venezuelan facility, a move that would constitute a major escalation of U.S. military strikes to counter suspected drug trafficking in the South American country.

The apparent attack follows months of U.S. military pressure, including dozens of strikes against ships in international waters. The White House has claimed the boats were carrying drugs, but authorities have provided no proof.

In Friday’s short phone interview, Trump responded to a comment about Venezuela by touting the administration’s attacks on suspected drug boats before referring to a strike against a “major factory or facility” that he said took place two nights earlier.

“We just knocked them out – I don’t know if you’ve read or seen – they have a big factory or a big facility where they send, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said in the interview. “Two nights ago we knocked him out. So we hit them really hard.”

Trump did not provide further details about the apparent attack on the facility, which, if correct, would be the first known ground strike in U.S. counternarcotics efforts against Venezuela. NBC News has not independently confirmed the strike. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the president’s remarks.

The administration has stepped up pressure on Venezuela in recent months. In October, Trump confirmed that he had authorized the CIA to take unspecified action in Venezuela, an unusual acknowledgment of covert action. The president told White House reporters that he took the action because his country “emptied its prisons to the United States of America,” a frequent accusation he has made without providing evidence, and also because of drug trafficking.

In a phone interview with NBC News in December, Trump refused to rule out war with Venezuela. Days earlier, he ordered a blockade of “sanctioned oil tankers” to and from the country and the military seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

In the interview with WABC radio, the station’s owner, John Catsimatidis, claimed that “Venezuela would provide a lot more oil to the United States of America if Maduro left,” referring to Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

“Well, it concerns a lot of things,” Trump said. “It’s about this. You know, they took our oil, they took it, and they also sent millions of people from prisons to our country, from prison, some of the worst people on Earth.”

Trump then spoke about drug trafficking, which the administration has consistently pointed to as the reason for boat strikes.