Details of Trump’s secret phone call with Venezuelan leader emerge as Pentagon hits back at chilling ‘kill everybody’ message

President Donald Trump and Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro had a phone call in which they discussed a possible meeting as the United States continues to threaten military action against the country.

Trump launched a crusade against suspected drug traffickers from Venezuela, breaking with US foreign policy and authorizing missile strikes on suspected ships flowing drugs into the country.

New York Times On Friday, it was reported that multiple sources close to the president said Trump spoke to Maduro by phone last week.

The meeting also included a potential meeting between the two leaders, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly joined the call.

Another source told the publication that there are currently no concrete plans between the two leaders.

The Trump administration has repeatedly supported efforts to kill potential Venezuelan agents traveling by boat in the Caribbean.

Current and former Pentagon officials estimate that more than 80 people died in the deadly campaign against suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers; These include 11 people on a boat that was hit by a US missile strike in September. Washington Post.

On Friday, the Post reported that two sources with direct knowledge of the operation said US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered intelligence analysts monitoring the boat on September 2 to ‘kill everyone’ on board.

The Trump administration condemned Maduro’s administration as the War Department stepped up attacks on potential drug traffickers from Venezuela.

The United States launched two missile attacks on a ship believed to be carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing 11 people on board in the September 2 attack.

Sources said the first missile hit the boat and set it on fire, but when the smoke cleared, authorities saw two survivors clinging to the wreckage.

A second missile was fired as per Hegseth’s lethal instructions, leaving the two survivors ‘disintegrated in the water,’ The Post reported.

Hegseth addressed X on Friday, responding to reports of his chilling message, calling it “fabricated, provocative and insulting.”

The Secretary of Defense further emphasized the issue of ‘deadly, kinetic attacks’ and confirmed that the administration intends to kill ‘narco-terrorists’ who are ‘poisoning the American people’.

“The Biden administration has opted for a kid-glove approach that has allowed millions of people, including dangerous cartels and unchecked Afghans, to inundate our communities with drugs and violence,” Hegseth wrote.

‘The Trump administration closed the border and launched an offensive against narco-terrorists. ‘Biden coddled the terrorists, we killed them.’

In a separate post shared on Friday evening, Hegseth warned: ‘We’ve just started killing narco terrorists.’

The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, also denied the report and told The Washington Post: ‘This entire narrative is completely false.’

‘Ongoing operations to eliminate narcoterrorism and protect the Homeland from deadly drugs have achieved great success.’

The September attack was reportedly led by SEAL Team 6 and supervised by Admiral Frank ‘Mitch’ Bradley, according to the Washington Post.

Two sources told the press that Bradley said in a conference call that the two survivors had to be killed because they might call other traders to rescue them and their cargo, making them a constant threat.

A person who watched the livestream of the attack told The Post that the footage was horrifying.

There is also inconsistency in how the White House justified the attacks; Two congressional aides told the publication that lawmakers were told the next attack was to eliminate the massacre, not kill the survivors.

Politicians and legal experts dispute Hegseth’s claim that the administration is acting in accordance with international law.

Representative Seth Moulton called the explanation for the second attack ‘patently absurd’ and stated that ‘it is clearly illegal to kill the survivors.’

“Mark my words: It may take a while, but the Americans will be tried for this as either a war crime or outright murder,” Moulton added.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly ordered ‘kill everyone’ on board and approved a subsequent attack that left two survivors dead.

Politicians and legal experts argue Trump administration’s lethal force in Caribbean violates international law

Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who advised Special Operations forces, told The Post that killing the men “amounts to murder” because the two countries are not in “armed conflict.”

The United Nations Charter states that the United States has the right to use military force against a ship only in the event of an armed attack.

International law expert Anthony Clark Arend from Georgetown University said: Policy It reads: ‘No evidence was given that the ship was involved in, or was about to engage in, an armed attack.’

But Mike LaSusa, vice president of the crime and security think tank, told Politifact that the United States’ use of lethal military force against suspected drug traffickers is not unprecedented.

Since that attack, the Pentagon is estimated to have launched missiles at at least 22 more boats, according to internal data seen by The Post.

Rubio announced earlier this month that the department had designated Cartel de los Soles a Foreign Terrorist Organization, effective Monday.

Cartel de Los Soles is a group of high-level individuals who follow Maduro and corrupt the country’s military, intelligence, legislature and judiciary, including encouraging terrorist violence and drug trafficking, Rubio said.

But experts told CNN that the term has a broader definition of corrupt officials as opposed to an organized terrorist group.

The two leaders reportedly discussed a meeting, but a source said there were no concrete plans

The Trump administration has openly opposed Maduro’s rule, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called him an illegitimate president.

Trump reportedly told troops on Thanksgiving that the administration planned to expand military efforts into attacks

The Trump administration has publicly opposed Maduro, and Rubio has called the leader an illegitimate president.

On Thanksgiving, a week after the reported phone call, Trump told troops that the administration was expanding military efforts to carry out attacks.

‘In recent weeks, you have been working to deter the large number of Venezuelan drug traffickers. “Of course, there are not many people coming by sea anymore,” he said.

Trump added that it was “easier” to catch potential drug traffickers on the ground and that it would start “very soon.”

‘We warn them: Stop sending poison to our country,’ he added.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House and Department of Defense for comment.