“Yes, I would probably talk to him. I talked to everyone,” the American president answered the corresponding question.
Trump said he “loves Venezuela” and its people, but is “not happy with the people running Venezuela.”
Asked by a reporter if he was willing to “rule out anything at this point,” including the use of ground troops, Trump replied: “I'm not ruling out anything, we just need to resolve the issue with Venezuela. They've transferred hundreds of thousands of people from prison to our country.”
.@POTUS on Venezuela: “I don't rule out anything… They dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country… I'm not in love with the people running Venezuela.” pic.twitter.com/E9PN837sRv
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 17, 2025
Context
In August, the White House announced its readiness to “use all elements of power” to stop “the flow of drugs into the country,” in particular, to concentrate ships and manpower near Venezuela.
Since September, the United States has carried out more than 20 strikes on ships believed to be transporting drugs from Latin America to the United States, CBS News reported Nov. 13. At least 80 people died.
On November 11, the US Navy announced that its largest warship, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, had arrived in the Southern Command area of operations, which covers much of Latin America and the Caribbean. CNN reported that there are about 15 thousand American troops in the Caribbean region. In response to this, Venezuela announced a “mass mobilization.”
The media reported that on November 12, Trump was presented with plans for possible military operations against Venezuela in the coming days. Two days later, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth announced the beginning of a military operation The USA “Southern Spear”, aimed against narco-terrorists, but did not say which country we were talking about.
