Sensation: President Trump asked his top foreign policy advisers about the possibility of invading Venezuela. Can there really be a war between US and Venezuela? Or at least an armed confrontation? Of course, Trump’s advisers gainsaid. They advised the President not to make any military move against Venezuela. But it seems, Trump was seriously considering the invasion to Venezuela.
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CNN channel confirmed that President Trump asked a number of his top foreign policy advisers last summer about the possibility of invading Venezuela. Trump aids vigorously pushed back against the idea, as did fellow Latin American leaders, who, allegedly, told Trump they did not want to see a US invasion.
The White House Reporter Jeremy Diamond joins us now with more on this.
– I remember this moment last summer when the President in public said that military options were on the table. And that was enough for some people to be taken aback, saying, what, military options for Venezuela? But here you have – I mean this is quite a military option – invasion.
– Yeah, absolutely. Back in August, you’re staying alongside, you’re an ambassador, Nikki Haley or Rex Tillerson, are openly talking about the possibility of a military option, not taking it off the table, as he was considering his additional sanctions. But the day before, the President was in a meeting with several of his top foreign policy advisers, including the National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, and he asked them about the possibility of invading Venezuela. He asked them whether that might be an option to consider. Now, let’s be clear, the Senior Administration Official, who confirmed this to me, emphasized that there were no imminent plans for any kind of a military strike on Venezuela and characterized this really as the President’s thinking out loud. But he didn’t just do it one time, he was doing it with his advisers, talking about the possibility of a military invasion of Venezuela. And then, he also probed several Latin American leaders about it in the subsequent month.
– So, if the President was taking this idea to the Latin American leaders, that sounds like the President was seriously considering this.
– Yeah. It seems like he was at least doing some kind of a focus group session with these Latin American leaders about invading Venezuela, which would obviously be a serious escalation of the US response. We know that his administration has been tough on Venezuela, imposing numerous sanctions, but this, of course, would be taking it to a whole new level.
– Jeremy Diamond. Thank you very much.
For more context on this, let’s bring in CNN Intelligence and Security Analyst. He is also a former CIA operative Robert Baer.
– So, the President apparently took it seriously enough to go to other Latin American leaders and raise the idea of US invasion of Venezuela. You’ve been around government a while, how unusual is it for a president to raise that in this context?
– Very unusual. It’s very sensitive in South America, of course, Jim. US troops operating there, overthrowing their government is, you know, beyond the peel. Then again, Venezuela is a mess. It’s oil production is falling off the cliff. it’s chaos. People aren’t been fed. The countries around Venezuela are… scared – let’s put it this way. A lot of refugees come across the border. And I do know that this has been in the air for a while – a couple of years – about a possible could-be trial against Maduro, the Head of the Government of Venezuela. So, the President’s got wind into this. I understand, the McMaster pushed back on this early on, stay out of Venezuela, it’s a mess. Looks like this has come back around and the situation is right for a change there, so let’s see where it goes.
– Of course, McMaster is gone now and we’ve seen the history of this president saying good-bye to advisers who challenge him, right, on some issues. You’ve mentioned that this might have come from inside the country. What was the idea of this propose to the US, perhaps, by factions inside Venezuela?
– Well, the way it usually works, it’s exiles living outside the Venezuela will get wind in this or claimed that the generals want to move against Maduro. They’ll try to transmit those messages to the President at National Security Council. Whether in fact, there’s a movement underway to get rid of Maduro in Venezuela – nobody knows for sure, but there’s certainly not a lot of noise about it, but it’s public as well. A lot of people would like to get to this president, so you’ve got to do something about Venezuela, it’s only going to get worse, it’s going to destabilize the countries around it. And he’s listening, clearly.
– Bob Baer. Thank you very much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMeshEeZF8M
