Trump Claims US Strike on Venezuelan Drug Dock

President Donald Trump stated that the United States conducted a strike on a dock facility in Venezuela on Christmas Eve, marking what appears to be the first known land-based attack in the country's ongoing campaign against drug trafficking networks. The comments, made during a radio interview and later remarks to reporters, come amid escalating U.S. military operations in the region aimed at disrupting narcotics flows to the United States.

Trump first referenced the operation during an impromptu call to WABC radio host John Catsimatidis on Friday, December 27. "They have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from," Trump said. "Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So, we hit them very hard." He did not specify the exact location or the forces involved, though he later told reporters in Florida on Monday that the target was a dock area used to load boats with drugs. "There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs," Trump said during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats and now we hit the area."