Nick Schifrin:
President Trump said that the U.S. Navy operated against that boat that you said that was operated by Tren de Aragua. That has been designated by the administration as a foreign terrorist organization.
And the president posted this video on TRUTH Social this afternoon, saying 11 members of the group were sailing toward the United States carrying illegal drugs. And attached to the video, he wrote — quote — “Please let this serve as notice to anyone even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. Beware. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” multiple exclamation points.
Now, as you said, Amna, President Trump this summer ordered a large Navy and Marine deployment to the area. You see some of the ships there. A Navy official says it includes destroyers, cruisers, as well as smaller ships capable of launching Marines onto shore.
In total, it’s thousands of service members, including submarines. The administration describes it as a drug mission and uses the language of war, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio did today.
Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State: We destroyed a drug boat that left Venezuela operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization, which is what these are.
And he’s been clear that the days of acting with impunity and having an engine shot down or a couple drugs grabbed off a boat, a take — those days are over. Now it is, we are going to wage combat against drug cartels that are flooding America’s streets and killing Americans.
