President Donald Trump said Thursday the United States will expand operations against drug cartels while touting his takedown of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro during an interview on “Hannity.”
“We’ve knocked out 97 percent of the drugs coming in by water, and we are going to start now hitting land,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “The cartels are running Mexico, it’s very sad to watch, and see what’s happened to that country.”
“They’re killing 250,000, 300,000 in our country every single year.”
The appearance marked the president’s first sit-down interview since Maduro’s capture.
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Trump praised the U.S. military personnel involved in the Venezuelan operations, offering admiration for what he called a “fantastic group” that carried out the mission.
“[Maduro’s] house was in the middle of a fort, with thousands of people and soldiers,” Trump explained. “And we went right into the middle of a fort. Who would think you could do that and not lose anybody? But they had it planned so beautifully, General ‘Razin Caine’ and Pete Hegseth were fantastic.”
The president addressed the number of Cuban soldiers “wiped out” in the military operation.
“I don’t even want to say how many, but they got wiped out,” Trump said.
He also addressed whether he thinks Cuba can survive without Venezuela’s support.
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“No. Cuba totally relies on Venezuela for money and for oil, and they give Venezuela protection,” the president said.
Trump touted oil as one of the many wins for America stemming from Maduro’s takedown, in addition to Venezuela agreeing to release all political prisoners.
“[Venezuela] They’ve been great. They really have been. I mean, everything we’ve wanted, they’ve given us,” Trump told Fox News.
Revenue generated from Venezuelan oil will reportedly be used to benefit both the Venezuelan people and the United States. And, Trump said, the oil is worth “billions and billions.”
He announced that he will meet with oil executives at the White House on Friday.
“The top 14 companies are coming here,” Trump said. “They’re going to rebuild the entire oil infrastructure.”
President Trump also discussed Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s offer to give him her Nobel Peace Prize for liberating Venezuela.
While Trump did not directly say whether he would take the prize, he said it would be a “great honor” and announced that Machado will visit the White House next week.
Much of Trump’s conversation with Hannity centered on foreign policy, and it broadened to the widespread protests happening in Iran in opposition of the regime.
Trump issued a stark warning to Iran’s regime, vowing to support the Iranians protesting them.
“In the past, they’ve started shooting the hell out of people,” he said. “And all of a sudden, people without any weapons whatsoever are standing there, and you have machine guns gunning them down, or they take them to prisons and then hang them and kill them.”
“They played rough,” he added. “If they do that, we’re going to hit them very hard. We can hit them hard. We’re ready to do it.”
