Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on a report Friday that the Trump administration had decided to strike military installations in Venezuela.
“Your ‘sources’ claiming to have ‘knowledge of the situation’ tricked you into writing a fake story,” Rubio posted on social platform X.
He was responding to a Miami Herald report that said the strikes could come “at any moment” amid an increasingly aggressive posture from the U.S. toward Venezuela. Sources told the news outlet the strikes aimed at cutting off the hierarchy of the Soles drug cartel.
President Trump earlier Friday also disputed reporting that he was planning to carry out strikes inside Venezuela.
“No. It’s not true,” Trump said.
In addition to the Miami Herald, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday the Trump administration had identified military facilities in Venezuela used to smuggle drugs as potential targets for strikes. The news outlet said Trump had not made a final decision on whether to carry out strikes inside of Venezuela.
The Pentagon last week said it was sending the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, and its carrier air wing to the Caribbean. At the same time, the Trump administration has conducted strikes against boats it says are smuggling illegal drugs in the region, killing dozens of people in the process.
Source: The Hill