President Donald Trump suggested he has made up his mind on a course of action in Venezuela following multiple high-level briefings this week and a mounting US show of force in the region.
Officials briefed Trump this week on options for military operations inside Venezuela, four sources told CNN, as he weighs the risks and benefits of launching a scaled-up campaign to potentially oust President Nicolás Maduro. The US military, meanwhile, has amassed more than a dozen warships and 15,000 troops into the region as part of what the Pentagon branded “Operation Southern Spear.”
The president indicated Friday he was drawing closer to a path forward on his attempts to cut down on illegal flows of migrants and drugs — and the possibility of regime change.
“I sort of have made up my mind — yeah. I mean, I can’t tell you what it would be, but I sort of have,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked directly about those meetings and whether he had made a decision.
What has Trump been briefed on?
A small group, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, briefed the president on Wednesday. A larger national security team, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials, met with Trump in the Situation Room on Thursday, according to a US official.
Trump and his team reviewed target options during both meetings.
Trump has been presented a wide range of options for Venezuela, including air strikes on military or government facilities and drug-trafficking routes, or a more direct attempt to take out Maduro. CNN previously reported that the president was considering plans to target cocaine production facilities and drug-trafficking routes inside Venezuela.
It’s also possible he decides to forgo any action. Trump said last month he had authorized the CIA to operate in the country, but administration officials told lawmakers last week that the US didn’t have a legal justification that would support attacks against any land targets — though it is possible they could generate one. Trump recently told CBS’ “60 Minutes” he was not considering strikes inside Venezuela, despite earlier sounding open to the idea.
The president has, in meetings, seemed wary of ordering actions that could end in failure or put US troops at risk, according to people familiar with the matter.
What assets are in the region?
In recent weeks, the US has amassed its naval forces in the Caribbean as the Trump administration has launched at least 20 strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats, an effort officials say is meant to disrupt the flow of drugs into the US.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, arrived in the region earlier this week. In addition to the aircraft carrier itself — described as the US Navy’s “most lethal combat platform” — the US has amassed roughly 15,000 military personnel in the region, alongside more than a dozen warships, including a cruiser, destroyers, an air and missile defense command ship, amphibious assault vessels, and an attack submarine. It has also deployed 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico, which has become a hub for the US military as part of the increased focus on the Caribbean.
Experts describe that level of military buildup as significant.
“I have been surprised by both the scale and the speed, and it is unprecedented,” Eric Farnsworth, Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNN. “It’s the most significant build up this century. In fact, you have to go back to 1989, the US invasion of Panama, for anything remotely similar.”
Venezuela, in turn, has said it is launching a “massive mobilization” of military personnel, weapons and equipment.
Potential risks and rewards
Regime change in Venezuela would require serious commitment by the US and carries high risk, but ousting Maduro could give Trump and his team credit for something that has proved elusive to multiple US administrations, including his own.
During his first term in office, Trump officially recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate leader, but a failed coup attempt in 2019 meant Guaidó never managed to take power.
If Trump ousted Maduro, the US president could claim major wins: getting a strongman out and an elected leader in, the possibility of enhanced collaboration on flows of drugs and migration, and potential deals on oil.
But experts have also warned that if Trump ordered strikes inside Venezuela aimed at ousting Maduro, the US president could face serious challenges with fractured opposition elements and a military poised for insurgency.
In remarks from Caracas on Friday, Maduro warned that US military intervention could lay the groundwork for what he described as “another Gaza,” a “new Afghanistan” or “Vietnam again.”
Offering a direct message to the US, he said, “Stop the insane hand of those who order bombing, killing and bringing war to South America, to the Caribbean. Stop the war. No to war.”
Extended US military involvement also runs the risk of upsetting the political coalition that propelled Trump into office on promises of keeping America out of overseas wars. Both Vice President JD Vance and Hegseth served in the military during the Iraq War and have since expressed skepticism about entangling the US in foreign conflicts.
“The American people did not vote for Trump to draw the US into a sustained conflict in Latin America. On that basis securing Trump’s commitment to long-lasting support for the opposition is likely to be a challenge,” said a GOP congressional staffer. “And without that support, this won’t work.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Zachary Cohen and Jim Sciutto contributed to this report.
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