While speaking on his buddy’s radio show, President Donald Trump claimed that the U.S. executed land strikes on Venezuela.
Trump told John Catsimatidis, a major GOP donor whose radio show, Cats and Cosby, airs on WABC, that “a big facility” had been “knocked out” in the South American nation, but did not provide further details.
“And we just knocked out, I don’t know if you read or you saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from. Two nights ago we knocked that out, so we hit them very hard,” Trump said last Friday.
When quizzed by reporters for more details on Monday, specifically if the U.S. military was involved, Trump said, “it doesn’t matter.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter, but there was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said. “They load the boats up with drugs. So we hit all the boats and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”
Later on Monday, CNN reported more details on the port facility on the coast of Venezuela Trump referenced, which was targeted by a U.S. drone strike earlier this month.
Sources familiar with the incident said the Trump administration believed the remote dock was being used by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to store drugs before placing them on boats. There was no one inside the facility at the time of the strike and no casualties.
Despite CNN’s sources saying Special Operations Forces had backed the drone attack, Col. Allie Weiskopf, a spokesperson for US Special Operations Command, insisted “Special Operations did not support this operation to include intel support.”
There have been no reports of the strike from Venezuelan officials.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and the Special Operation Forces for comment.
If the president’s comments are accurate, it would mark the first known land attack on the country since the Trump administration began its campaign against Venezuela earlier this year.
The Trump administration has been embroiled in controversy regarding its escalating tactics towards Venezuela and the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
In October, Trump confirmed that he authorized a covert CIA operation inside Venezuela as the administration increased its pressure on Maduro to step down as president. Last week, Trump said it would be “smart for him to do that.”
The U.S. has conducted dozens of deadly strikes on what the Trump administration claims are drug boats. These strikes, which have killed more than 100 people, have raised a multitude of questions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and legal experts.
There are currently around 15,000 U.S. troops and several naval ships standing by in the region. Trump ordered a “complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers coming and going from the country. Oil is Venezuela’s main source of revenue.
The president has also been threatening land-based strikes in the country for weeks.
