Venezuela

NPR - President Trump confirmed yesterday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela. He portrayed it as part of a pressure campaign against the country’s drug trade. On Tuesday, the U.S. military struck a fifth boat that the Trump administration said was carrying drugs. The U.S. has also built up forces in the Caribbean in a way that raises questions about whether this goes beyond interrupting the drug trade and could possibly be about regime change.

The president says the focus on Venezuela is not just about drugs. He said that it is also about the number of Venezuelan migrants who have entered the U.S. in recent years. The tension between Trump and the country dates back to his first administration when he tried to topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, NPR’s Franco Ordoñez tells Up First. Trump expended considerable political capital opposing Maduro, yet he remains in power. Some experts believe that Trump may see this as unfinished business. The White House is defending these actions by saying Trump campaigned on a promise to take on cartels and stop the flow of drugs into the U.S., Ordoñez says.

NBC News - The CIA's operations abroad are usually shrouded in secrecy, but President Donald Trump said he had authorized the spy agency to take unspecified action in Venezuela, an extraordinary and unprecedented acknowledgement from a commander in chief.

Asked why he authorized the CIA to go into Venezuela, the president gave two reasons: the first was a claim that the country was emptying "their prisons into the United States of America." The second was narcotics trafficking.

The president's remarks come amid strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats. Trump indicated he is also considering U.S. military strikes on Venezuelan soil.

"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," Trump said.  Read the full story.