Trump said there is no war with Venezuela expected but Maduro’s days are numbered
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President Donald Trump said he does not expect us to go to war with Venezuela but defended the recent military strikes in the Caribbean, accusing Nicolás Maduro of flooding the US and admitting that Maduro’s days as President have been counted.
The US military has conducted more than a dozen strikes on suspected drug vessels in international waters near Venezuela, killing suspected terrorists, and the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group have been deployed to the US Command region. The escalation has raised questions about whether the US could top Venezuela’s president.
In an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” the owner of ONOAH O’Donnell asked Trump about the return of the USS Gerald R. Ford to the Caribbean and whether the US would go to war with Venezuela.
“I don’t doubt it, I don’t think so, but they would have treated us very badly, not only in drugs. They threw hundreds of thousands of people out of the country…” said Trump. “They are taking their prisons out of our country. They, too, if you look at their mental institutions and their mental asylums and their asylums in the United States of America because Joe Biden was the President of our country.”
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President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
O’O’Donnell pressed Trump on the measure of military action, asking if it was to stop narcotics or remove Maduro.
Trump said the situation was about many things, repeating that Venezuela allowed its empty prisons to the US
“To me, that would be almost number one because we have other countries like Mexico that have been very bad for us in terms of drugs. That’s right. We have a closed border now … So think about this: People are coming into our country through our southern border.”
Trump announces the US military is conducting a ‘deadly strike’ on a Venezuelan fruit boat in the Caribbean
Nicolas Maduro, President of Venezuela, during a Press Conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, 2024. (Gaby Oraa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When O’Donnell asked Trump if Maduro’s days as President of Venezuela were numbered, Trump replied: “I would say yes. I think so, yes.”
Later, O’Donnell asked Trump if there was any truth to reports of a possible land strike in Venezuela, to which the President could not answer.
“I’m not saying it’s true or false,” he said, adding that he would not talk to reporters about plans to attack another country.
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The US military conducted a drone strike on a container in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, killing four people, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. (Secretary of War Pete Hegseth with x)
Trump said Friday he didn’t think it was banned inside Venezuela, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the White House both pushing back on reports that any program had gone on there.
A reporter asked Defense Secretary Pete Hesseth on Saturday at the Southeast Asian Nations Summit.
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“Notice the question. However, we will not share any operational details about what may or may not happen,” reporters said on Saturday.
FOX News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
