Trump planned to meet with Rubio, Hegseth, high-ranking officials in Venezuela, sources said

Washington – President Trump on Monday afternoon is expected to accompany his senior deputies on the next steps of the US operation in Venezuela, according to a senior military official and two sources familiar with the White House meeting.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were scheduled to attend what sources described as a decision-making meeting about the next steps of Maduro’s campaign.

Mr Trump said he had recently spoken to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, while the US President had deployed an advanced military force to the region as part of what he described as an anti-narcotics campaign designated as terror groups. The State Department has designated Maduro himself as a terrorist.

CNN first reported the meeting, which comes amid the President’s dubious threats of military action around the world and intensified vetting of officials in the wake of the Pentagon’s deadly strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavett confirmed that the President will meet with his national security team in Venezuela and “on many issues.” Details about the planned meeting did not emerge.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that Hegseth gave a verbal order not to abandon the survivors of the first US strike on a drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean. The attack on the US was announced by Mr. Trump on September 2

A working group of lawyers representing the judges said that the General said that if true, it would be “a war crime, murder, or both.” The group referred to the Geneva Conventions, which states that members of the armed forces are out of combat due to “sickness, wounds, related to any cause, for all reasons, for all reasons, for all kinds of “prohibited. The US military killed at least 80 people on a boat in the Caribbean and the Pacific in the “Operation Southern Spear,” which is aimed at Narco-terrorists.

The jag group was called by Congress to protect any military use that involves the “intentional targeting of anyone – enemies, enemies – translated

On Sunday, Mr. Trump he told reporters They “wouldn’t want” the second reported strike on a suspected drug boat earlier this year, while promising to look into the incident.

“The first strike was very deadly, it was okay and if there were two people,” the President told reporters about the Air Force. “But Pete said it didn’t happen. I trust him a lot.”

Gop Sen. Mike Round of South Dakota, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was also asked Monday evening if he trusted HEGSSET and the boat strike.

He replied: “The question will be based on the facts as we find them. “We will have some discussions in the committee. Until such times we know the full facts, we cannot comment.”

GOP Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, chairman of the Labor Committee, told Monday that he spoke with Hegseth and the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff, and plans to speak with the Admiral who led the operation. He said Hegseth “showed” that “there was a second attack.” But Wicker told reporters he had no information about any survivors who may have been killed, adding that he expects to get that information because “he’s going to have all the audio and all the video.”

Last week, Mr. Trump warned that Venezuelan AirSpace should be considered closed, and Venezuela said the US was stopping it by not suspending its recovery flights and wanted to “undermine the sovereignty of its territory.”

The Trump administration says it intends to stop drugs from being shipped to the US, while Venezuela says Mr Trump wants Maduro’s oust. In the past few weeks, the US has sent several warships to the western Atlantic and the Caribbean as well the naval base was reopened Puerto Rico.

On Sunday, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia he said The reported strike on the submarine that followed the attack earlier this year “rises to the level of a war crime if true.”

“If that is reported to be true, it is a clear violation of the laws of war, and the laws of the international community that speak to people on the road,” said Kaine “in front of the nation and Margaret Brennan.”

Kaine introduced VISIBLE DETAILS COSTS To prevent Mr. Trump to push ahead with Venezuela, although his efforts failed in the Senate. But he said on Sunday that if the US military takes action on the ground in Venezuela, the Canper Chamber may change its position.

Grace Kagamani,

Alan He and Kaia Hubbard contributed to this report.