President Donald Trump is set to gather his top national security leaders in the Oval Office Monday to discuss his ongoing pressure campaign against Venezuela as the U.S. continues its ongoing military buildup in the region.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the meeting will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, plus White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
The planned Oval Office sit-down, which was first reported by CNN, is expected to take place at 5 p.m. It comes amid the administration is ramping up the pressure against Caracas and the government led by dictator Nicolas Maduro, who the U.S. government formally designated as a member of a foreign terrorist organization last week.
The move to designate Maduro and many of his allies as terrorists is understood to be part of a legal gambit by which Trump administration officials believe they can unlock the ability to conduct military operations in and around Venezuela using authorities similar to those used by multiple administrations while conducting the post-9/11 global “War on Terror.”
The United States is not at war with Venezuela and Congress has not authorized military force against the country, but that has not stopped the Trump administration from conducting a series of airstrikes on small boats alleged to be smuggling narcotics that have killed at least 80 people thus far.
The Pentagon has also deployed more than 12 warships — including the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group — and 15,000 troops to the region as part of what Hegseth has dubbed “Operation Southern Spear.”
Last week, Trump claimed the U.S. would begin strikes against land-based drug smuggling “very soon” despite the lack of clear authority to send troops into the country. He also posted to social media over the weekend declaring that commercial aviators and others should “consider the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela to be closed in its entirety.”
He also told reporters on Sunday that he had spoken with Maduro but did not provide details on the content of the purported conversation.
