President Donald Trump will meet with key members of his Cabinet Monday and his national security team tonight at the White House To analyze next steps for VenezuelaAccording to what sources told CNN, the US government is intensifying its military pressure campaign to leave Nicolas Maduro in power.
The meeting, which according to CNN is scheduled to be held at 5 p.m. Washington time (7 p.m. Argentine time) in the Oval Office, will be attended by Secretary of War (former Defense) Pete Hegseth; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Kean; Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio; Chief of Staff Susan Wells and Deputy Chief Stephen Miller, among others.
The meeting, which does not appear on the official White House agenda, This is happening amid strong tension between the Trump government and the Maduro regimewhich the United States accuses of leading the Sun Cartel, an organization declared terrorist which, according to the authorities, expands military options for launching an attack in Venezuela.
President Trump arrived Sunday night from his summer residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where he had been since Tuesday night to celebrate the long Thanksgiving weekend.
During his little vacation it became clear He had apparently had a phone conversation on November 21 with Maduro. According to the Miami Herald, Trump gave the Venezuelan an ultimatum to leave power immediately, but Maduro refused, demanding a “global pardon” for him and his allies.
On Sunday, the president confirmed the call had taken place, with a vague response to reporters: “I wouldn’t say it was good or bad, it was a phone call.”
The US government is intensifying its pressure on Venezuela to the maximum through attacks on ships supposedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific. More than 80 people were killed by missiles. It also deployed the largest and most modern aircraft carrier in the world, the USS Gerald Ford, in addition to destroyers, submarines and warplanes to the region, in an attack called “Operation Southern Spear,” which includes 15,000 soldiers.
The president also said last week that the United States would stop Venezuelan drug trafficking through the landIn addition to the sea “very soon.”
Additionally, over the weekend the president issued a widespread directive on social media warning airlines, pilots and criminal networks to avoid Venezuelan airspace. but, He told reporters on Sunday not to exaggerate about this announcement.
The Oval Office meeting comes as lawmakers They still doubt the legitimacy of US attacksAgainst ships supposedly trafficking drugs in the region. The legitimacy of the attacks has been called into question, as the United States is not officially at war with Venezuela. The Washington Post It was reported this weekend that Defense Minister Hegseth had given the order to attack a ship again after verifying that the initial attack had not killed all on board.
Asked by the press on Sunday, President Trump said he had “high confidence” that Hegseth did not give a verbal order to kill all the crew members on board. He said the secretary told him he had not issued the order. “And I believe him one hundred percent.”
Republican and Democratic lawmakers have expressed serious concerns about the issue, some even pointing it out Which could be a “war crime”. Independent Senator Angus King said: “The law is clear.” “If the facts are, as alleged, that there was a second attack specifically to kill survivors in the water – that is a clear war crime. It is also murder.”
King, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, He said Congress would seek to interview “people along the chain of command.”
He added: “The question is, what was the order that the Secretary of Defense issued and how was it implemented? And we will talk to people, as I say, from the top, all the way up the chain of command, all the way to the people who actually launched this attack.”