President Trump says the US took out a major target in Venezuela last week. In a radio interview Friday with GOP donor John Catsimatidis on WABC, Trump claimed the US "knocked out" a "big plant, or a big facility, where the ships come from" in Venezuela "two nights ago," adding, "we hit them very hard." The remark came as he described his administration's campaign to pressure President Nicolás Maduro, including recent seizures or destruction of suspected drug-running boats and efforts to block sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, CNN reports.
Venezuelan authorities have not reported the loss of any major facility. Asked Monday if the strike was carried out by the US military, Trump said, "Well, it doesn't matter, but there was a major explosion in the dock area, where they load the boats up with drugs," NBC News reports. He added: "They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats and now we hit the area, it's the implementation area, that's where they implement. And that is no longer around." Reuters reports that when asked if the CIA was responsible, Trump said: "I don't want to say that. I know exactly who it was but I don't want to say who it was."
The president has been publicly mulling strikes "on the land" in Venezuela for weeks, even as the US military says it has destroyed about 30 vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific as part of anti-narcotics operations. Officials have previously said potential land targets include suspected drug production sites or trafficking hubs. Trump has also authorized covert CIA operations in the country. On Christmas Eve, he told sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford that they were in an "interesting place" and said the US would be "going after the land." CNN notes that according to Trump's remarks to WABC, the strike would have occurred around the same time.
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