Donald Trump has played down the possibility of a US war with Venezuela, but suggested Nicolás Maduro’s days as the country’s president are numbered.
Asked if the US was going to war against Venezuela, the US president told CBS’ 60 Minutes: “I doubt it. I don’t think so. But they’ve been treating us very badly.”
His comments come as the US continues to launch strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. The Trump administration says the strikes are necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the US.
Trump rejected suggestions that the US action was not about stopping narcotics, but aimed at ousting Maduro, a long-time Trump opponent, saying it was about “many things”.
At least 64 people have been killed by US strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early 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’s shot down kills 25,000 on drugs and destroys families all over our country.”
Pushed on whether the US was planning any strikes on land, Trump refused to rule it out, saying: “I wouldn’t be inclined to say that I would do that… I’m not gonna tell you what I’m gonna do with Venezuela, if I was gonna do it or if I wasn’t going to do it.”
Maduro has previously accused Washington of “fabricating a new war”, while Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said the strikes on boats are being used by the US to “dominate” Latin America.
Trump said the government was “not going to allow” people “from all over the world” to come in.
“They come in from the Congo, they come in from all over the world, they’re coming, not just from South America. But Venezuela in particular – has been bad. They have gangs,” he said, singling out the Tren de Aragua gang. He called it “the most vicious gang anywhere in the world”.
It was Trump’s first interview with CBS since he sued its parent company, Paramount, over a 2024 interview with then Vice-President Kamala Harris.
He claimed the interview had been edited to “tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party”.
Paramount agreed to pay $16m (£13.5m) to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, not paid to him “directly or indirectly”. It said the settlement did not include a statement of apology.
Trump last appeared on the 60 Minutes programme in 2020, when he walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl because he claimed the questions were biased. He did not agree to an interview with the show during the 2024 election.
