WATCH: Trump says he authorized CIA action in Venezuela for these two reasons

President Donald Trump has confirmed that he will authorize the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Venezuela as part of his efforts to combat Latin American drug traffickers by force.

Trump indicated at a news conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday that his administration was next considering a “land look” in Latin America after the U.S. military carried out at least five deadly strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean since last month. The president also confirmed during Wednesday’s press conference that he was authorizing CIA intelligence activities in Venezuela to help continue the administration’s offensive against Latin American drug traffickers.

Trump told reporters there were “two reasons” he allowed the CIA to conduct such work.

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President Donald Trump confirmed during a White House news conference Wednesday that he authorized unspecified CIA intelligence activities in Venezuela as part of the Trump administration’s offensive against Latin American drug traffickers. (Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis and Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images)

“First, they emptied their prisons to the United States of America. They came in through the border. They came in because we had an open border policy. And as soon as I heard that, ‘I said a lot of these countries’ – they’re not the only country, but they’re the worst offenders, and they let in thousands and thousands of prisoners, people from mental institutions, from insane asylums. – dumped in the United States,” Trump told reporters Wednesday after being asked why he made the decision to authorize CIA activities in Venezuela.

“We’re bringing them back… they did it to a level that probably – many, many countries did it too, but not like Venezuela – was depressed and dirty,” Trump continued. “And the other thing is drugs. We have a lot of drugs coming from Venezuela.”

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Following Trump’s comments about why he was allowing CIA activities in Venezuela, the president was pressed by a reporter on whether the intelligence agency would have the power to eliminate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom Trump and his administration have accused of running a “narco-dictatorship.”

The United States killed six suspected drug traffickers on a boat in international waters near Venezuela, President Donald Trump announced on October 14, 2025. (real DonaldTrump/Truth Social)

However, the president did not answer that question, telling reporters that he thought it was a “ridiculous question” that he needed to answer at the press conference. “I don’t want to answer a question like that,” Trump replied.

Trump’s comments on authorizing unspecified CIA actions in Venezuela came after The New York Times reported earlier in the day that the president had authorized the spy agency to carry out covert and deadly actions in Venezuela.

“I think Venezuela is feeling the heat. But I think a lot of other countries are feeling the heat as well,” Trump said Wednesday.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores parade in a military vehicle during Independence Day celebrations, in Caracas, July 5, 2025. (JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images)

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“We are not going to let this country, our country, be ruined because others want to give up, as you say, ‘their worst’ – they have given us their worst. They have filled our country with prisoners, with mentally ill people who are seriously ill, or criminally ill, and we are not going to accept that,” the president continued. “And I can tell you that we have taken care of the sea. There is no one. And we are watching, we are watching. And if we see it, we will save it.”

Diana Stancy of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.