Trump says no war with Venezuela expected but Maduro’s days numbered
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
President Donald Trump said he did not expect the United States to go to war with Venezuela but defended recent military strikes in the Caribbean and accused Nicolás Maduro’s regime of inundating the United States with criminals and agreed that Maduro’s days as president are numbered.
The US military launched more than a dozen attacks on ships allegedly carrying drugs in international waters near Venezuela, killing dozens of suspected narco-terrorists; USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group were deployed to the US Southern Command region. The increases have raised questions about whether the United States will be lining up to oust the Venezuelan president.
Appearing on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” host Norah O’Donnell asked Trump about the repositioning of the USS Gerald R. Ford in the Caribbean and whether the United States would go to war with Venezuela.
“I doubt it, I don’t think so, but they’re treating us very badly, not just on drugs. They’ve thrown hundreds of thousands of people out of prisons into a country we don’t want,” Trump said. “They emptied their prisons into our country. And if you also look, they emptied their asylums and asylums into the United States of America because Joe Biden was the worst president in the history of our country.”
IS TRUMP’S ‘MOVEMENT’ TOWARDS VENEZUELA THE START OF A LARGER REGIME CHANGE CAMPAIGN?
President Donald Trump met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Wednesday, October 22, 2025. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
O’Donnell pressed Trump on the size of the military operation and asked whether it was more about stopping narcotics or eliminating Maduro.
Trump reiterates that he allowed Venezuela’s prisons to be evacuated to the US, saying the situation has to do with many things
“To me, it’s almost a trick because there are other countries like Mexico that treat us very badly in terms of drugs. OK. Very bad,” he said. “We have a closed border right now… Think about this: Zero people are entering our country through our southern border.”
TRUMP ANNOUNCED THAT US SOLDIERS MADE A ‘DEADLY ATTACK’ ON A VENEZUELAN DRUG SHIP IN THE CARIBBEAN
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at a press conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (Gaby Oraa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When O’Donnell asked Trump if Maduro’s days as president of Venezuela were numbered, Trump replied: “I would say yes. I think so, yes.”
O’Donnell then asked Trump if there was any truth to reports of possible ground strikes in Venezuela, but the president did not address that.
“I’m not saying this is right or wrong,” he said, adding that he would not talk to a reporter about plans to strike another country.
TRUMP IS USING THE MILITARY POWER OF THE USA ON THE CARTELS. IS A LARGER WAR COMING?
The U.S. military launched an attack on a ship in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, killing four people, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. (via Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, X)
Trump said Friday that he was not considering an attack inside Venezuela, and both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the White House disputed reports that unnamed sources claimed such a plan was in the works.
At a meeting of defense ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, a reporter asked Secretary of War Pete Hegseth whether the United States was planning to attack Venezuela.
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION
“We appreciate your question. But of course we won’t be sharing any operational details about what may or may not happen,” Hegseth told reporters on Saturday.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
