Trump won’t go to Congress over war with drug cartels: ‘They’re gonna be, like, dead’
Trump says he will not seek permission from Congress for ‘war’ against drug cartels
- Donald Trump stated his administration is “just going to kill people” involved in drug trafficking instead of seeking a resolution from Congress for a military campaign taking aim at South American regimes.
- The administration's military campaign has resulted in at least 37 deaths from missile strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
- Trump authorized CIA covert operations in Venezuela, claiming the country “emptied their prisons” and flooded the U.S. with drugs.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the policy of killing suspected drug traffickers, comparing capture to “catch and release” and aiming to alter the “psychology of these foreign terrorist organizations”.
- Critics, including Rep. Gregory Meeks, have raised concerns about the legality of these “extrajudicial killings”, the credibility of intelligence and the potential for an expanded regional conflict without congressional oversight.