President Donald Trump suggested the United States may expand its involvement to other countries in the days following his administration’s operation in Venezuela that, he said, resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Maduro’s wife.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Jan. 4, Trump said the U.S. could become similarly involved in Colombia, Cuba and Greenland, as well as Iran and Mexico. He also indicated the U.S. could take further military action in Venezuela after strikes carried out Saturday, Jan. 3.
“We were ready for a second wave, we were all set to go, but we don’t think we’re gonna need it,” Trump said of the military’s plans for Venezuela. He later added, “If they don’t behave, we will do a second strike.”
Turning to Venezuela’s neighbor Colombia, Trump said the country was “very sick, too.” Referring to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Trump claimed Colombia is being “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” adding that Petro “is not going to be doing it very long.”
Trump also spoke about Cuba, telling reporters the country is “ready to fall.” When asked about possible U.S. military intervention, he responded, “It sounds good to me.”
“I don’t know if they’re going to hold out,” he said of Cuba. “But Cuba now has no income. They got all of their income from Venezuela, from the Venezuelan oil. They’re not getting any of it. Cuba is literally ready to fall, and you have a lot of great Cuban Americans who are going to be happy about this.”
On Mexico, Trump referenced drug cartels and said the U.S. may need to take action if Mexico does not. “By the way, you have to do something with Mexico. Mexico has to get their act together because they’re pouring through Mexico and we’re going to have to do something,” he said. Trump added that he had offered multiple times to send U.S. troops to Mexico.
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He also said he was monitoring Iran “very closely,” and warned of a forceful U.S. response if violence escalates. “If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States,” he said.
Beyond the Americas and the Middle East, Trump repeated his desire for the U.S. to annex Greenland, calling the territory strategically important. “It’s so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” he said. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”
Trump’s remarks came after he called into Fox & Friends early on Jan. 5, where he emphasized U.S. military power and suggested further action could follow. “We can’t take a chance, after having done this incredible thing last night, of letting somebody else take over… We have to do it again. We can do it again, too. Nobody can stop us,” he said. “There’s nobody that has the capability that we do.”
Trump ordered what he described as “large-scale strikes” across Venezuela in the early hours of Saturday morning. He later said in a post on Truth Social that Maduro and Maduro’s wife, first lady Cilia Flores, had been captured and transported to New York via the USS Iwo Jima naval ship. Maduro is expected in court in New York City on Monday, Jan. 5, on narco-terrorism charges.
Trump has accused Maduro of drug trafficking, “forcing” migration to the U.S., and using oil money to fund alleged drug-related crimes. Maduro has denied the allegations, according to CBS News.
