Monday on CNN’s “News Central,” former national security adviser John Bolton said President Donald Trump had “put the gun on the table” to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Host Kate Bolduan asked, “One of the things that we know he’s doing right are these boat strikes. I mean, do you think these boat strikes are stopping the flow of drugs to the United States, for one, and do you think they are doing anything to stop Maduro or go to the ends that you’re talking about?”
Bolton said, “Well, I think the drug smugglers can obviously see what’s happening. It’d be stunning, as they do, that they don’t shift their routes and find other ways to get drugs into the United States. Let’s face it, it’s our demand for the drugs that’s giving them the incentive to try this; they’ll find other ways. But it also shows the confusion in the White House’s objectives. If it’s simply about illegal narcotics, that’s one thing, but it seems to be about overthrowing Maduro. Why else bring the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group from the European theater to the Caribbean? Trump has now put the gun on the table. The question is, is he going to use it or not?”
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