In an interview with POLITICO on Monday, President Trump wouldn’t rule out a US ground invasion of Venezuela and said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s “days are numbered,” a sign his administration is still moving toward a potential regime change war in the country.
“I don’t want to rule it in or out,” Trump said when asked about a potential ground invasion. “I don’t talk about it. Why would I talk to you, an extremely unfriendly publication?”
According to media reports over the past few months, Trump has reviewed options to attack Venezuela that include sending in troops to capture airfields and energy infrastructure. Another potential option is sending a small special operations forces team to attempt to kill or capture Maduro, according to The New York Times.
Trump said in the interview that he didn’t want to talk about “military strategy” and accused Maduro of purposely sending “criminals” and people from mental institutions into the US. But Maduro’s government has continued to cooperate with the Trump administration on deportation flights from the US, even after Trump declared that Venezuela’s airspace was closed.
When asked what his goals were for Venezuela, the president said he wants the Venezuelan people to be treated nicely and pointed to his relationship with Venezuelan immigrants living in Florida at a country club he owns in Miami.
“Well, one goal is I want the people of Venezuela to be treated well. I want the people of Venezuela, many of whom live in the United States, to be respected. I mean, they were tremendous to me. They voted for me 94 percent or something. I mean, it’s incredible. I own a big, uh, project, Doral. It’s a great place, Doral Country Club,” Trump said.
“It’s a … beautiful place, right in the middle of they call it Little Venezuela. And I got to know the Venezuelan people very well because, uh, that I’ve owned it for a long time. And they’re unbelievable people,” he said. “They’re incredible people. And they were treated horribly by Maduro.”
The president was then asked about his pardon for former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted of trafficking tons of cocaine to the US and was sentenced to 45 years in prison. The president admitted he didn’t know much about the case, but that people he knew said Hernandez was set up by the Biden administration, though he was being investigated during the first Trump administration when his brother was convicted for similar charges.
“Well, I don’t know him. And I know very little about him other than people said it was like, uh, an Obama/Biden type setup, where he was set up,” Trump said. “He was the president of the country. The country, uh, deals in drugs, like probably you could say that about every country, and because he was the president, they gave him like 45 years in prison. And there are many people fighting for Honduras, very good people that I know. And they think he was treated horribly, and they asked me to do it, and I said I’ll do it.”
Trump has been called out for hypocrisy for pardoning Hernandez while creating a pretext for war with Venezuela by accusing Maduro of being involved in drug trafficking and conducting extrajudicial executions of people on alleged drug boats at sea.
