STORY: U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed reports on Wednesday (October 15) that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in U.S. efforts to pressure President Nicolas Maduro's regime.

The New York Times first reported the classified directive, citing U.S. officials familiar with the decision.

Trump said he authorized the action for two main reasons.

First, he claimed Venezuela has been releasing large numbers of prisoners, including individuals from mental health facilities, into the United States, often crossing the border due to what he described as an open border policy. Trump did not specify which border they were crossing.

The second reason, he said, was the large amount of drugs entering the U.S. from Venezuela, much of it trafficked by sea.

"I think Venezuela is feeling heat...," Trump added, but declined to answer when asked if the CIA has the authority to execute Maduro.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: SOUNDBITES FROM U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE STORY

SHOWS: WASHINGTON ,D.C., UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 15, 2025)(UNRESTRICTED POOL – Access all)

1.TRUMP SPEAKING DURING EVENT IN OVAL OFFICE

2. (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

REPORTER ASKING OFF CAMERA: “Mr. President, on Venezuelans boats, I want to ask you, why not have the Coast Guard stop them, which it is empowered by law to do? You know, this way you can confirm who's on the boat and ensure that they're doing what they are suspected.”

TRUMP: “Because we've been doing that for 30 years and it has been totally ineffective. They have faster boats. Some of these boats are seriously, I mean, they're world-class speedboats but they're not faster than missiles. But we've been trying to do that for years. And so much of the drugs, 25 - 30% would come in through the seas. Right now, we have I would say none coming in through the seas. In fact, I don't know about the fishing industry. If you want to go fishing, a lot of people aren't deciding to even go fishing. We've almost totally stopped it by sea. Now we'll stop it by land. But it never worked. It never worked. When you know, when you did it in a very politically correct manner.”

3. REPORTER ASKING: “What's the next step in this war on cartels? And are you considering options or are you considering strikes on land?”

4. (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“Well, I don't want to tell you exactly, but we are certainly looking at land now because we've got the sea very well under control. We've had a couple of days where there isn't a boat to be found then and that I view that as a good thing, not a bad thing. But we had tremendous amounts coming in by boats, by very expensive boats. You know, they have a lot of money, very fast, very expensive boats that were pretty big. And the way you look at it is every boat that we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives. So every time you see a boat and you feel badly, you say, well, that's rough. It is rough. But if you lose three people and save 25,000 people, these are people that are killing our population. Every boat is saving 25,000 lives. And you can see it. The boats get hit and you see that fentanyl all over the ocean. It's like floating in bags. It's all over the place. And it's a tremendous, we're saving tremendous amounts of lives”

5. TRUMP SPEAKING

6. (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

REPORTER ASKING OFF CAMERA: ”Why did you authorize the CIA to go into Venezuela? And is there more information you can share about these strikes on the alleged…”

TRUMP: "Well, I can't do that but, I authorized for two reasons, really. Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America. They came in through the, well, they came in through the border. They came in because we had an open border policy. And as soon as I heard that, I said a lot of these countries, they're not the only country, but they're the worst abuser, and they've entered there. They've allowed thousands and thousands of prisoners, mental institution, people from mental institutions, insane asylums emptied out into the United States. We're bringing them back. But that's a really bad thing. And they did it at a level that probably not many, many countries have done it, but not like Venezuela, they were down and dirty. And the other thing are drugs. We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea. So you get to see that. But we're going to stop them by land also.”

REPORTER ASKING OFF CAMERA: “Does the CIA have authority to take out Maduro?”

TRUMP: “Oh, I don't want to answer a question like that. That's a ridiculous question for me to be given, not really a ridiculous question, but wouldn't it be a ridiculous question for me to answer? But I think Venezuela is feeling heat. But I think a lot of other countries are feeling heat too. We're not going to let this country, our country, be ruined because other people want to drop, as you say, their worst. They have given us their worst. They've loaded up our country with prisoners, with mentally ill people that are seriously ill, criminally ill, and we're not going to take it. And so, I mean, it's just one of those things and I can tell you, we've taken care of the sea, there's nobody and we're watching. We're watching. And if we see it, we'll save it.”

7. REPORTERS LOOKING ON

8. (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

REPORTER ASKING OFF CAMERA: “There are Republicans and Democrats up on the Hill concerned that in the briefings they've gotten about those attacks, they're not necessarily getting information about who was on them and what exactly was on those ships. Can you ensure…?

TRUMP: “Well, but they are given information that they were loaded up with drugs and that's the thing that matters. When they're loaded up with drugs, they're fair game. And every one of those ships were, and they're not ships, they're boats, they're speedboats. They're extremely fast, record setting type speedboats, that cost a lot of money. And they have a lot of money because they're drug sellers. But they know one thing, and they all have the same thing in common. There's, there's drug dust. They call it drug dust, they call it fentanyl dust all over the boat after those bombs go off. And you can take along. We know, we know before and we know when they go out. We know, we have much information about each boat that goes out. Deep, strong information.”

9. REPORTERS LOOKING ON