President Trump dropped an F-bomb Friday as he explained why Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro appears willing to give the US a stake in the South American nation’s oil and mineral wealth.
“He’s offered everything. You know why? Because he doesn’t want to f–k around with the United States,” Trump said of Maduro, during a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Maduro regime reportedly offered to provide US companies preferential contracts and access to all existing and future oil and gold projects in Venezuela as part of a deal discussed with Trump administration officials, according to the New York Times.
Maduro also pledged to stop selling Venezuelan oil to China and slash energy and mining contracts Venezuela had entered into with Chinese, Iranian and Russian companies, the outlet reported.
The deal fell apart after Trump reportedly ordered special envoy Richard Grenell to end all diplomatic outreach to Venezuela last week, as the US military continues to carry out strikes against drug boats in the Caribbean Sea.
The president has since revealed that he has authorized the CIA to start engaging in clandestine operations within Venezuela as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to crackdown on drug cartels, which are suspected of operating under Maduro’s direction.
“We are certainly looking at land now because we’ve got the sea under control,” Trump told reporters Wednesday.
“A lot of Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea. So you get to see that, but we’re going to stop them by land also.”
The Pentagon has deployed some 10,000 US troops – to Puerto Rico and aboard ships – in support of the counter-narcotics operation, according to multiple reports.
Eight Navy warships, a nuclear-powered submarine and F-35 fighter jets are also in the region in support of the mission.
Flight tracking websites also spotted B-52 bombers flying near the Venezuelan coast earlier this week, in an apparent show of force.
US forces have used missile strikes to blow up at least six suspected drug smuggling boats off the Venezuelan coast since September.
More than two dozen suspected narcoterrorists have been killed in the airstrikes. A Thursday strike on a drug smuggling ship reportedly left some survivors, who were taken into custody by the Navy.
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