Washington [US], December 2 (ANI): President Donald Trump convened a high-level meeting at the White House to review next steps on Venezuela amid heightened scrutiny over recent US military action against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean, CNN reported, citing sources.
According to the report, key members of Trump’s national security team — including War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — were expected to attend the Oval Office meeting on Monday evening (local time).
The deliberations followed increased US pressure on Venezuela through strikes on drug boats and a major military build-up in the Caribbean under “Operation Southern Spear.” The Pentagon has deployed more than a dozen warships and approximately 15,000 troops to the region. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump regularly meets his security team on global matters as part of his responsibility to “ensure that peace is ongoing throughout the world.”
The meeting came amid growing scrutiny of US military actions after strikes on alleged drug vessels reportedly killed more than 80 people. The US is not formally at war with Venezuela, and lawmakers from both parties have sought clarity on allegations that a second strike was ordered to kill survivors following the initial attack.
“If the facts are, as have been alleged, that there was a second strike specifically to kill the survivors in the water, that’s a stone-cold war crime. It’s also murder,” independent Senator Angus King of Maine told CNN.
On Monday, Leavitt identified Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, head of US Special Operations Command, as the official who ordered the follow-up strike, asserting that he acted “well within his authority.” She said Hegseth had authorized Bradley on September 2 to carry out kinetic action to eliminate the threat posed to the United States.
Pressed on legal justification, Leavitt insisted the strike was undertaken in self-defense, conducted in international waters, and complied with the law of armed conflict.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, said he personally “wouldn’t have wanted” a second strike and questioned whether such an order had been issued. “No. 1, I don’t know that that happened, and Pete said he did not want them — he didn’t even know what people were talking about,” he said.
Leavitt said Hegseth had spoken with concerned lawmakers and noted that Congress had received 13 bipartisan briefings on Venezuelan operations, along with access to classified legal opinions and other documents.
Sources told CNN that the US military carried out a follow-up strike on a suspected drug vessel operating in the Caribbean on September 2 after an initial attack did not kill everyone on board. That September strike was the first in what has since become a regular series of attacks on alleged drug boats. (ANI)
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