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Donald Trump played down the possibility of a US war with Venezuela, but suggested that Nicolas Maduro’s days as the country’s president are numbered.
Asked if the US would go to war against Venezuela, the US president told CBS’ 60 Minutes: “I doubt it. I don’t think so. But they treated us very badly.”
His comments come as the US continues to crack down on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. The Trump administration says the crackdown is necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the US.
Trump rejected suggestions that the US action was not about stopping drugs but aimed at ousting Maduro, a long-time Trump opponent, saying it was about “a lot of things”.
At least 64 people have been killed by US strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since the start of September, CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner, reported.
Speaking from Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Trump said: “Every single boat that you see that goes down is killing 25,000 by drugs and destroying families across our country.”
Asked if the US was planning any ground strikes, Trump refused to rule it out, saying: “I wouldn’t be inclined to say that I would do that … I’m not going to tell you what I’m going to do with Venezuela, whether I would do it or not.”
Maduro earlier accused Washington of “fabricating a new war,” while Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the boat strikes were being used by the U.S. to “dominate” Latin America.
Trump said the government “will not allow” people “from all over the world” to enter.
“They come from the Congo, they come from all over the world, they come, not only from South America. But Venezuela in particular was bad. They have gangs,” he said, singling out the Tren de Aragua gang. He called it “the meanest gang in the world”.
It was Trump’s first CBS interview as he sued the parent company, Paramount, in 2024, an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
He claims the interview was edited to “tilt the scales in favor of the Democratic Party.”
Paramount has agreed to pay $16m (£13.5m) to settle the case, but with money earmarked for Trump’s future presidential library, which was not paid to him “directly or indirectly”. It said the settlement did not include an apology.
Trump last appeared on “60 Minutes” in 2020, when he walked out of an interview with Leslie Stahl because he claimed the questions were biased. He did not agree to an interview for the show during the 2024 election.
