Donald Trump holds Oval Office meeting on Venezuela amid questions on US strikes

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump convened a high-level meeting at the White House to review the next steps on Venezuela, amid heightened scrutiny over the recent US military action against the suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean, CNN reported, citing sources.

According to CNN, key members of Trump’s national security team — including War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — are expected to have attended the Oval Office meeting on Monday evening (local time).

The deliberations came as the US has stepped up pressure on Venezuela through strikes on drug boats and a significant military build-up in the Caribbean under “Operation Southern Spear.” The Pentagon has deployed more than a dozen warships and around 15,000 troops to the region. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was regularly meeting his security team on global matters, adding that it was part of his responsibility to “ensure that peace is ongoing throughout the world.”

The meeting follows heightened scrutiny over US military actions after strikes on alleged drug vessels reportedly killed over 80 people. The US is not formally at war with Venezuela, and lawmakers from both parties have demanded clarity on allegations that a second strike was ordered to kill survivors after the initial attack. CNN reported.

“If the facts are, as have been alleged, that there was a second strike specifically to kill the survivors in the water, that’s a stone-cold war crime. It’s also murder,” independent Senator Angus King of Maine told CNN.

On Monday, Leavitt identified Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, head of US Special Operations Command, as the official who ordered the follow-up strike, asserting that he acted “well within his authority.” She said Hegseth had authorised Bradley on September 2 to carry out the kinetic action to eliminate the threat posed to the United States.

Pressed on the legal justification, Leavitt said the strike was undertaken in self-defence, was conducted in international waters, and complied with the law of armed conflict.

Trump, however, told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday that he personally “wouldn’t have wanted” a second strike and questioned whether such an order had been issued. “No. 1, I don’t know that that happened, and Pete said he did not want them — he didn’t even know what people were talking about,” he said.

Leavitt said Hegseth had spoken to concerned lawmakers and noted that Congress had received 13 bipartisan briefings on the Venezuelan operations, along with access to classified legal opinions and other documents.

The US military had carried out a follow-up strike on a suspected drug vessel operating in the Caribbean on September 2 after an initial attack did not kill everyone on board, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

That September strike was the first in what became a regular series of attacks on alleged drug boats. (ANI)