Why are the U.S. Threat Intensifying Against Venezuela?

Amid intensifying U.S. pressure on Venezuela, senior national security officials — including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — were set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss next steps, CNN reported. 

The administration has signaled that future action could be imminent, even as legal experts and members of Congress raise concerns about the basis and scope of U.S. military authority in the region.

According to CNN, Trump has warned that the U.S. will “very soon” begin taking action against alleged drug-trafficking networks “on land,” after an earlier series of “lethal, kinetic strikes” on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean. 

An armada led by the USS Gerald R. Ford remains positioned off Venezuela’s coast. Officials have framed the operations as counter-narcotics missions, critics argue the administration has not provided sufficient legal justification and may be edging toward a broader confrontation with President Nicolás Maduro.

Questions deepened after reporting by The Intercept and The Washington Post revealed a follow-up strike on September 2 against a suspected drug boat after two survivors remained in the water. 

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly told CNN that if the reports are accurate, “going after survivors in the water… is clearly not lawful.”

Hegseth dismissed scrutiny by posting on X a mock children’s book cover titled “Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists.” 

He posted a statement on X, where he called the reporting “fake news,” though he did not directly deny the alleged order to “kill everybody.” He insisted the strikes are lawful and said, “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”

“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law… and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers,” he wrote.

According to The Hill, Trump has defended Hegseth, telling reporters he has “great confidence” in his Defense secretary and that “he said he did not say that, and I believe him, 100 percent.” But Trump also added that he personally would not have ordered a second strike, saying the “first strike was very lethal.”

Complicating matters further, CNN noted growing controversy after Trump announced plans to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted in the U.S. for conspiring with drug cartels. Sen. Tim Kaine suggested on CBS that President Trump cares nothing about narco-trafficking, undercutting the administration’s stated justification for force against Maduro.

With bipartisan oversight investigations now underway on Capitol Hill, senior lawmakers from both parties on the Armed Services Committees say they will examine the legality of the Caribbean strikes.