WASHINGTON—President Trump said his administration may hold talks with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as the U.S. military buildup near the South American country grows.
“We may be having some discussions with Maduro and we’ll see how that turns out,” Trump told reporters Sunday evening. “They would like to talk.”
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for more information about potential U.S. outreach to Venezuela.
The administration has been seeking to pressure Maduro to step down and said Sunday that it intended to designate Cartel de los Soles, a network of Venezuelan military officers that U.S. officials accuse Maduro of leading, as a foreign terrorist organization.
The Trump administration has carried out strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing dozens of people. The Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has entered the Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command announced on Sunday.
The Trump administration has said that the military buildup is directed at stopping the flow of drugs such as cocaine and fentanyl into the U.S., and isn’t geared toward a regime-change campaign against Maduro.
A senior administration official said Sunday that no military action in Venezuela was imminent.
Two other U.S. officials said Trump had yet to make up his mind about whether to attack Venezuela directly in an effort to oust Maduro. Options presented to Trump last week by aides such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth included the use of special forces and airstrikes on government and military facilities, the officials said.
The Journal reported earlier this month that Trump has expressed reservations about taking military action against Venezuela. Trump said on Friday that he had “sort of made up his mind” about how to proceed with Venezuela, but offered no concrete plans.
Maduro has accused Washington of trying to topple him, calling the military buildup “regime change through military threat.” In a letter to Trump after the initial strikes in September, Maduro promised to produce data showing that his country doesn’t traffic drugs. Last month, Trump said Maduro was willing to give “everything” to ease tensions, adding “he doesn’t want to f—around with the United States.”
Trump has faced bipartisan calls on Capitol Hill to provide more information about the boat strikes, which the Justice Department in a secret memo has said are legally justified, calling fentanyl a potential chemical weapons threat.
Trump said he told Secretary of State Marco Rubio to inform Congress about the missions. “We don’t have to get their approval, but I think letting them know is good,” Trump said Sunday. “If they say, ‘We don’t want you to stop drugs from coming into the country,’ I don’t think that would be good.”
