Trump: Military option on table for Venezuela
brushed away calls for caution from world leaders, including Germany’s Angela Merkel.
“I don’t see a military solution and I don’t think it’s called for,” Merkel said Friday, declining to say whether Germany would stand with the
U.S. in a military conflict with North Korea. She called on the U.N. Security Council to continue to address the crisis.
“I think escalating the rhetoric is the wrong answer,” Merkel added.
“Let her speak for Germany,” Trump said, when asked about the comment. “Perhaps she is referring to Germany. She’s certainly not referring to the United States, that I can tell you.”
By evening, after a briefing with top advisers and standing next to his secretary of state and U.N. ambassador, Trump suggested diplomacy could yet prevail.
“Hopefully it’ll all work out,” Trump said. “Nobody loves a peaceful solution better than President Trump.”
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday threatened military intervention in Venezuela, a surprise escalation of Washington’s response to Venezuela’s political crisis.
Venezuela has appeared to slide toward a more volatile stage of unrest in recent days, with anti-government forces looting weapons from a military base after a new legislative body usurped the authority of the opposition-controlled congress.
“The people are suffering and they are dying. We have many options for Venezuela including a possible military option if necessary,” Trump told reporters in an impromptu question and answer session.
The comments appeared to shock Caracas, with Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino calling the threat “an act of craziness.”
‘You are safe’
The president spoke later Friday with Guam Gov. Eddie Calvo, promising: “You are safe. We are with you a thousand percent.”
Faced with perhaps his biggest international crisis as president, Trump has responded with an abundance of swagger and a lot of words. He’s held a series of freewheeling press conferences with reporters, answering complex and delicate questions apparently off the cuff. On Friday, he veered from North Korea to comments on politics. He even suggested he would consider military action against Venezuela, puzzling his military planners.
Trump announced he planned to hold another news conference in Washington on Monday.
U.S. officials insist there has been no new significant movement of troops, ships, aircraft or other assets to the region other than for long-scheduled military exercises with South Korea.