Trump says he doubts US will go to war with Venezuela
Donald Trump has downplayed the possibility of war between the United States and Venezuela, but suggested that Nicolás Maduro’s days as the country’s president are numbered.
When asked if the United States would go to war on Venezuela, the US president told CBS’s 60 Minutes: “I doubt it. I don’t think so. But they’ve treated us very badly.”
His comments come as the United States continues to launch strikes against suspected drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean. The Trump administration says the strikes are necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.
Trump rejected suggestions that the U.S. action was not aimed at stopping narcotics but was aimed at ousting Maduro, a longtime Trump opponent, saying it was “a lot of things.”
At least 64 people have been killed by US strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since the start of September, CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, reported.
Speaking from Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Trump said: “Every boat shot down that you see kills 25,000 people on drugs and destroys families all across our country.”
When asked whether the United States was considering ground strikes, Trump refused to rule it out, saying: “I wouldn’t be inclined to say I would do that…I’m not going to tell you what I’m going to do with Venezuela, whether I should do it or whether I won’t do it.”
Maduro has previously accused Washington of “manufacturing a new war”, while Colombian President Gustavo Petro said ship strikes were being used by the United States to “dominate” Latin America.
Trump said the government would “not allow” people “from around the world” to enter.
“They come from Congo, they come from all over the world, they come, not just from South America. But Venezuela in particular, it’s a bad time. They have gangs,” he said, pointing the finger at the Tren de Aragua gang. He called it “the most vicious gang in the world.”
It was Trump’s first interview with CBS since he sued its parent company, Paramount, for a 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
He claimed the interview was edited to “tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party.”
Paramount has agreed to pay $16m (£13.5m) to settle the lawsuit, but the money allocated to Trump’s future presidential library will not be paid to it “directly or indirectly”. He said the settlement did not include a statement of apology.
Trump last appeared on 60 Minutes in 2020, when he left an interview with Lesley Stahl because he claimed the questions were biased. He did not agree to an interview with the show during the 2024 elections.
