(CBS News)- President Trump said Friday he’s “sort of” decided how to proceed on Venezuela, as top officials weigh potential military operations in the Latin American country.
“I sort of have made up my mind” about the administration’s next steps in Venezuela, he told CBS News aboard Air Force One, but “I can’t tell you what it would be.”
Top Trump administration officials, military and senior staff gathered at the White House for at least the third day in a row Friday to discuss possible military operations in Venezuela, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were among those who spoke with Mr. Trump at the White House on Friday, the sources said.
Venezuela was discussed as part of the president’s daily intelligence briefing on Wednesday. CBS News has previously reported that Hegseth, Caine and other military officials presented Mr. Trump on Wednesday with options for potential operations in Venezuela in the coming days, including possible strikes on land.
Caine and others also briefed the president on Thursday. Friday’s session included a larger group, the sources said.
At this point, the U.S. has not briefed allied countries on its precise intentions regarding Venezuela, two Western allies told CBS News.
The U.S. has asserted that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is complicit with armed criminal gangs that smuggle drugs into the U.S., allegations that Maduro has rejected. And over the last two months, the U.S. military has conducted strikes against at least 21 vessels it alleges were ferrying drugs from South America to the U.S., killing at least 80 people.
But some Western European countries with interests in Latin America have said they do not have specific information directly linking Maduro to any cartel, despite U.S. assertions and a 2020 federal indictment claiming Maduro is a top narco trafficker.
Earlier this week, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that the U.S. strikes violate international law and law of the sea.
“We have observed with concern the military operations in the Caribbean region, because they violate international law and because France has a presence in this region through its overseas territories, where more than a million of our compatriots reside,” Barrot said in Ontario, at the G7 summit of foreign ministers.
Earlier this week, the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group entered the U.S. Southern Command’s area of responsibility. Southern Command is the primary combatant unit for operations in the Caribbean and South America.
The Ford joins a flotilla of destroyers, war planes and special operations assets that are already in the region.
