Donald Trump downplayed the likelihood of a US war with Venezuela, but suggested that Nicolas Maduro's days as president of the country are numbered.
Asked whether the United States was going to war against Venezuela, the US president said on CBS' 60 Minutes: “I doubt it. I don't think so. But they treat us very badly.”
His comments come as the US continues to strike suspected drug smugglers 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 U.S. action was aimed not at stopping the drug trade but at ousting Maduro, a longtime Trump opponent, saying it was about “a lot of things.”
US strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed at least 64 people since early September, according to CBS News, the BBC's US news partner.
Speaking at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Trump said: “Every boat you see hit kills 25,000 people because of drugs and destroys families across our country.”
Asked whether the US was planning any strikes on land, Trump refused to rule it out, saying: “I wouldn't be inclined to say I would do it… I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do with Venezuela, whether I'm going to do it or not.”
Previously, Maduro accused Washington of “fabricating a new war,” and Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that attacks on boats are being used by the United States to “dominate” Latin America.
Trump said the government is “not going to let in” people “from all over the world.”
“They come from the Congo, from all over the world, not only from South America. But in Venezuela, in particular, things are bad. They have gangs,” he said, highlighting the Tren de Aragua gang. He called it “the most violent gang in the world.”
This was Trump's first interview with CBS. since he sued its parent company Paramount, during a 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
He said the interview was edited to “tip the balance in favor of the Democratic Party.”
Paramount agreed to pay $16 million (£13.5 million) to settle the claim, but the money earmarked for Trump's future presidential library was not paid to him “directly or indirectly”. It said the agreement did not include a statement of apology.
Trump last appeared on 60 Minutes in 2020, when he turned down an interview with Lesley Stahl because he said the questions were biased. He did not agree to be interviewed by the show during the 2024 election.
