Donald Trump has dismissed the prospect of the US waging war with Venezuela, although hinted at the days of the president of the nation, Nicolas Maduro.
Responding to whether the US would declare war on Venezuela, the US president, in an interview on the 60 Minutes of the CBS responded: I doubt it. I don’t think so. But they have been robbing us a lot.
The US military has been accumulating a fleet of warships, fighter jets, bombers, marines, droneland other spy planes in the Caribbean Sea over the last two months. It is the biggest there since decades.
US is still striking against so-called drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean. According to the Trump administration, the attacks are required to curb entry of drugs in the US.
Trump Defends Caribbean Strikes, Refuses to Rule Out Action Against Venezuela
Trump dismissed the notion that the US move was not directed at halting the narcotics trade but to remove Maduro, a former Trump critic, claiming that the US move was about many things.
In its early reporting on the US strike on the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, at least 64 people had been killed, according to the CBS News – the BBC news partner in the US.
In an interview in his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, Trump asserted: “Every single boat you see when shot down kills 25,000 on drugs and destroys families all over our country.
Trump was pressed on whether the US had any strikes on land. But he denied it because he said: I would not say that I would not. I am not going to tell you what I was going to do with Venezuela, whether I was going to do it or not.
Trump Escalates Military Pressure on Venezuela, Cites Gang Threat and Drug Operations
B-52s demonstrating the capability of bomber attacks have flown off the coast of Venezuela. The CIA has been deployed to Venezuela and the largest aircraft carrier in the world is being dispatched to the area.
Maduro has already accused Washington of making a new war. And Colombian President Gustavo Petro has claimed that US is using the strikes on boats to take over Latin America.
According to Trump, people throughout the world would not be allowed to enter the country by the government.
They come in through the Congo, they come in through the world, they are coming, not just the South Americans. However, Venezuela especially – was bad. They are gangsters,” he pointed to Tren de Aragua.
He termed it as the worst gang in the world.
Trump Signals Return to Nuclear Testing, Blames Democrats for Prolonged Shutdown in Fiery CBS Interview
Trump also made it through questions of nuclear testing, upon which he urged the US military leadership to restart testing nuclear weapons to keep in parity with the other nations like Russia and China.
In response to a question of Norah O’Donnell of the CBS if Trump intended US to launch a nuclear weapon in the first time in over 30 years. Trump answered: I am saying that we are going to test nuclear weapons like other nations, yes.
Nevertheless, the Energy Secretary, Chris Wright tried to assuage the international anxiety by informing. Fox News that the US had no intentions of carrying out nuclear explosions.
In his interview with the CBS. Trump also addressed the US government shutdown that has lasted well over a month and left many people in America without access to basic services.
The president attacked Democrats, dubbing them as crazed lunatics who have gone astray. But said he thought they would eventually make a surrender and cast ballots to shut the shutdown.
And unless they do vote, then that’s up to them, said he.
It marked the first time that Trump was interviewed by the CBS in the past since he sued its parent company, Paramount, over an interview with then Vice-President Kamala Harris in 2024.
He claimed that the interview that was broadcast during the presidential election campaign was doctored to give advantage to the Democratic Party.
Paramount rejected the suit by agreeing to pay $16m (PS13.5m), the sum to go to the future presidential library of Trump. But not to him personally, directly or indirectly. It claimed that a statement of apology was missing in the settlement.
The last time Trump was on the 60 Minutes programme was in 2020. When he left an interview with Lesley Stahl on grounds that she had biased questions. In the 2024 election, he declined to be interviewed in the show.
