Trump Says Military Struck Boat Carrying Drugs From Venezuela
Last month, the Defense Department announced it was sending more than 4,000 sailors and Marines to the seas around Latin America as part of Trump’s stepped-up push against drug cartels.
President Donald Trump said the US military targeted a boat carrying drugs from Venezuela, touting the administration’s success after deploying naval vessels to the Caribbean as part of a push to stop narco-trafficking.
"We just over the last few minutes, literally, shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "These came out of Venezuela — and coming out very heavily from Venezuela. A lot of things are coming out of Venezuela. So we took it out, and you’ll get to see that after this meeting is over."
The White House and Pentagon didn’t immediately respond to questions seeking more information. Soon after Trump spoke, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote a social media post saying the military had conducted a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean "against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization".
Last month, the Defense Department announced it was sending more than 4,000 sailors and Marines to the seas around Latin America as part of Trump’s stepped-up push against drug cartels. On Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused Rubio of trying to push the US into a massacre with the deployment.
