WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and said he was weighing carrying out land operations on the country.

The acknowledgement of covert action in Venezuela by the U.S. spy agency comes after the U.S. military in recent weeks has carried out a series of deadly strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. U.S. forces have destroyed at least five boats since early September, killing 27 people, and four of those vessels originated from Venezuela.

Asked during an event in the Oval Office on Wednesday why he had authorized the CIA to take action in Venezuela, Trump affirmed he had made the move.

“I authorized for two reasons, really,” Trump replied. “No. 1, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America,” he said. “And the other thing, the drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea.”

  • NutWrench@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    While the CIA has no problems farking with countries all over the world, we usually only find out about those operations long after they are are over. In other words, the CIA has never had a moron for a boss, who puts their lives in danger by telling the whole world what they’re up to.

    Either Trump really is that stupid or he just made that up because he thinks it’s a cool flex.

    • DancingBear@midwest.social
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      2 days ago

      He really is that stupid, but he is also such a narcissist that he can’t stand the idea of not getting credit for something that he has done, in public or private.

      • nothx [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        2 days ago

        Yeah I think this is it. Which makes sense because those two traits often come hand in hand. The incessant need to brag about something that only a stupid person would brag about.

    • ZC3rr0r@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      Don’t be surprised if the answer is “both”. He’s a stupid man obsessed with the optics of looking strong and successful. Boasting about this while completely oblivious to the obvious consequences fits right in his M.O.

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      i wonder if it really matters that the public knows about it or not and instances like this convince me of it:

      the american congress admitted publicly that the ukranian forces; like the azov brigade; were nazis hellbent on fostering enmity with russians and that arming them would lead to conflict with russia, but the people of the western world still refuse to believe it.

      the original tankies accused the united states of fostering the hungarian uprising in the 1950’s and the JFK releases by trump proved that they were right; yet tankie is still meant to be a pejorative term to make fun of this assertion.

      people are going to believe and defend whatever propaganda that has been spoon fed to them and facts be damned is the mantra of both red and blue maga’s.

      • YappyMonotheist@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Westerners don’t value truth, discussions are just language games to be won, and Americans and Israelis are turbocharged Westerners…

    • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
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      2 days ago

      Let’s not forget possibility number 3, that someone lied to him that we are doing it. How would he ever know?