Though U.S. President Donald Trump has previously sent ambiguous signals about whether his military build-up near Venezuela is the start of a greater military intervention, he has now said: “I don’t rule it out, no.”
But notably, Trump has expressly left the possibility of a war with Venezuela on the table in a phone interview with our U.S. network NBC News.
When he was asked whether he rules out the possibility that the US strikes on alleged drug boats and tanker seizures could lead to war, he said: “I don’t discuss it.”
Trump also declined to say whether ousting Maduro was his ultimate goal.
“He knows exactly what I want,” Trump replied. “He knows better than anybody.”
The comments are notable as Trump has long campaigned on being able to keep the US out of foreign conflicts.
Meanwhile, it’s shining through in several remarks that Donald Trump’s endgame in Venezuela may be to oust the socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair in a profile published on Tuesday that Donald Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro cries uncle”.
She also added: “The president believes in harsh penalties for drug dealers, as he’s said many, many times. … These are not fishing boats as some would like to allege”.
Trump has warned this month that Maduro’s “days are numbered”.
Wiles has since called the article “a disingenuously framed hit piece” that disregarded “significant context.”
Written with reports from Sky News
