Donald Trump played down the possibility of a US war with Venezuela, but indicated that Nicolas Maduro’s days as the country’s president were numbered.
Asked whether the United States would wage war against Venezuela, the US President told CBS’s 60 Minutes: “I doubt it. I don’t think so. But they’re treating us very badly.”
His comments come as the United States continues to launch strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean. The Trump administration says the strikes are necessary to stop the flow of drugs into the United States.
Trump rejected suggestions that the US measure was not about stopping drugs, but rather aimed at ousting Maduro, a longtime opponent of Trump, saying it was about “a lot of things.”
CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner, reported that at least 64 people had been killed in US air strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early September.
Speaking from Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Trump said: “Every boat you see go down kills 25,000 people with drugs and destroys families across our country.”
When asked if the United States was planning ground strikes, Trump refused to rule it out, saying: “I wouldn’t be inclined to say I would do that… I’m not going to tell you what I’m going to do with Venezuela, if I’m going to do it or if I’m not going to do it.”
Maduro previously accused Washington of “fabricating a new war,” while Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that the United States was using strikes on boats to “control” Latin America.
Trump said the government “will not allow” people “from all over the world” to enter.
“They come from Congo, from all over the world, not just from South America. But Venezuela in particular – it was bad. They have gangs,” he added, referring in particular to the Tren de Aragua gang. He described it as “the most dangerous gang in the world.”
It was Trump’s first interview with CBS since he filed a lawsuit against its parent company, Paramount, during a 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
He claimed that the interview was edited “to tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party.”
Paramount agreed to pay $16 million (£13.5 million) to settle the lawsuit, but the money earmarked for Trump’s future presidential library was not paid to him “directly or indirectly.” She added that the settlement did not include a statement of apology.
Trump last appeared on 60 Minutes in 2020, when he withdrew from an interview with Lesley Stahl because he claimed the questions were biased. He did not agree to be interviewed by the program during the 2024 elections.
