President Donald Trump said he believes he has the legal authority to launch strikes in international waters to target illegal drug cartels, but indicated he may seek congressional approval for any operations on land.
“We do it — we have legal authority,” Trump said when asked about the strikes Wednesday in the Oval Office.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced earlier Wednesday that the US military had carried out a strike against a ship in the Eastern Pacific the day before, marking the 8th known strike against a suspected drug trafficking vessel.
South American leaders have questioned the legality of Trump’s strikes, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro recently accused the United States of killing an innocent Colombian national.
Trump defended the strikes, saying: “Each one of these destroyed boats saves 25,000 American lives. »
Last week, Trump acknowledged that he authorized the CIA to carry out covert action in Venezuela and said the United States was considering strikes on Venezuelan territory. But on Wednesday, he suggested some openness to informing Congress about future ground operations.
“We’re authorized to do it, and if we do it overland, we can go back to Congress, but we did it, this is a national security issue. They killed 300,000 people last year. The drugs, these drugs that came in, killed 300,000 Americans last year, and that gives you legal authority,” he said.
Trump added: “We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we get there. We don’t have to do it, but I think Marco, I would like to do it,” referring to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
