President Donald Trump verified his authorization of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations in Venezuela as part of his efforts to aggressively counter Latin American drug traffickers.
During a Wednesday press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel, Trump indicated that his administration was turning its attention “at land” in Latin America after the U.S. military executed at least five deadly strikes against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean since the previous month. At the Wednesday press conference, the president also confirmed his authorization of CIA intelligence activities in Venezuela to further the administration’s offensive against Latin American drug traffickers.
Trump told reporters there were “two reasons” for authorizing the CIA to perform such actions.
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“Number one, they have emptied their prisons into 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 abuser, and they’ve allowed thousands and thousands of prisoners, people from mental institutions, insane asylums – emptied out into the United States,” Trump stated to reporters Wednesday in response to a question about why he decided to authorize CIA activity in Venezuela.
“We’re bringing them back … they did it at a level that probably – many, many countries have done it also, but not like Venezuela – they were down and dirty,” Trump added. “And the other thing is drugs. We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela.”
TRUMP PRAISED AFTER PUTTING ‘NARCO TERRORIST’ MADURO ON NOTICE
Following Trump’s explanation of why he was authorizing CIA operations in Venezuela, a reporter questioned the president on whether the intelligence agency would be authorized to eliminate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom Trump and his administration have accused of heading a “narco-dictatorship.”
However, the president declined to answer that question, telling reporters he considered it a “ridiculous question” to address during the press conference. “I don’t want to answer a question like that,” Trump retorted.
Trump’s remarks about authorizing unspecified actions by the CIA in Venezuela followed a New York Times report earlier in the day that the president had authorized the spy agency to conduct lethal, covert operations in Venezuela.
“I think Venezuela is feeling heat. But I think a lot of other countries are feeling heat too,” Trump said Wednesday.
“We’re not going to let this country, our country, be ruined because other people want to drop, as you say, ‘their worst’ – they have given us their worst. They’ve loaded up our country with prisoners, with mentally ill people that are seriously ill, criminally ill, and we’re not going to take it,” the president continued. “And I can tell you we’ve taken care of the sea. There’s nobody. And we’re watching, we’re watching. And if we see it, we’ll save it.”
