The Big Story 

President Trump on Friday claimed he was not considering strikes within Venezuela following reports his administration had identified potential military targets within the country.

© Manuel Balce Ceneta, The Associated Press

Trump was asked aboard Air Force One while en route to Florida about those reports and whether he had made up his mind about potential strikes.

“No. It’s not true,” Trump responded.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday the Trump administration had identified military facilities in Venezuela used to smuggle drugs as potential targets for strikes. The news outlet said Trump had not made a final decision on whether to carry out strikes inside of Venezuela.

Trump and his administration have taken an increasingly aggressive approach toward Venezuela in recent weeks, raising questions about a potential conflict.

The Pentagon last week said it was sending the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, and its carrier air wing to the Caribbean. At the same time, the Trump administration has conducted strikes against boats it says are smuggling illegal drugs in the region, killing dozens of people in the process.

Also last week, two B-1 Lancer bombers departed from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas and flew near the coast of Venezuela, according to flight tracking data. Trump called the news reports about the presence of B-1 bombers “false,” but added that “we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons. Drugs being one of them.”

The administration has provided limited information to the public and even Congress as to the evidence that justified the boat strikes and legal reasoning, frustrating lawmakers.

Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said lawmakers were “very frustrated” with a bipartisan House classified briefing Thursday on the U.S. military’s strikes, echoing displeasure raised by Democrats. 

Turner, who attended the members-only House Armed Services Committee on Thursday morning, confirmed that the Defense Department lawyers who were set to explain the legal rationale the administration is using to strike the vessels were not in the room. 

“People were very frustrated in the information that was being provided. It was a bipartisan briefing, but people were not happy with the level information that was provided, and certainly the level of legal justification that was provided,” Turner said during a Friday appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

House Democrats who attended the briefing on the strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats, a military campaign that so far has killed at least 61 people, were not satisfied with the answers they received and said the administration was unclear on the legality of the operations. 

“You know what I heard today was a tactical brief. I heard no strategy, no end game, no assessment of how they are going to end the flow of drugs into the United States, which needs to happen, by the way,” Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), a former U.S. Army officer, told reporters Thursday morning. 

Read the full report at thehill.com.

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