President Donald Trump confirmed he would be authorizing Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) activity in Venezuela amid his efforts to combat Latin American drug traffickers with force.
Trump indicated during a press conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday that his administration was next looking “at land” in Latin America after the U.S. military conducted at least five fatal strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean since last month.
The president also confirmed at the Wednesday press conference that he was authorizing intelligence activity by the CIA in Venezuela to help continue the administration’s offensive against Latin American drug traffickers.
Trump told reporters there were “two reasons” why he was authorizing the CIA to conduct such work.
“Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America. They came in through the border. They came in because we had an open border policy. And as soon as I heard that, ‘I said a lot of these countries’ – they’re not the only country, but they’re the worst abuser, and they’ve allowed thousands and thousands of prisoners, people from mental institutions, insane asylums – emptied out into the United States,” Trump told reporters Wednesday after they asked why he took the move to authorize CIA activity in Venezuela.
“We’re bringing them back… they did it at a level that probably –—many, many countries have done it also, but not like Venezuela — they were down and dirty,” Trump continued. “And the other thing is drugs. We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela.”
Following Trump’s comments about why he was authorizing CIA activity in Venezuela, the president was pressed by a reporter on whether the intelligence agency would have the authority to take out Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who Trump and his administration have accused of leading a “narco-dictatorship.”
However, the president didn’t bite on that question, telling reporters he thought it was a “ridiculous question” for him to answer during the press conference. “I don’t want to answer a question like that,” Trump shot back.
Trump’s comments about authorizing unspecified actions by the CIA in Venezuela came after the New York Times reported earlier in the day that the president had authorized the spy agency to carry out lethal, covert actions in Venezuela.
