Expert reveals what it would take for Trump to deploy troops to Venezuela: ‘Possibility of escalation’
As tensions between the United States and Venezuela escalate, a national security and foreign policy expert revealed what it would take for the Trump administration to deploy American boots on...
By Fox News · Fox News
As tensions between the United States and Venezuela escalate, a national security and foreign policy expert revealed what it would take for the Trump administration to deploy American boots on the ground. Victoria Coates, former Trump national security advisor and vice president of the Heritage Foundation’s Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, told Fox News Digital during an interview that while deploying troops inside Venezuela is unlikely at this time, it remains "possible." "The president has fairly sweeping authorities under Article II of the Constitution to defend the American people from what he has defined as a real and present danger in the form of the drug cartels coming up from Venezuela," Coates said. In late November, President Donald Trump delivered a stern ultimatum to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to leave Venezuela immediately before announcing the country's airspace should be closed, according to a report. MARCO RUBIO SAYS TRUMP WILL NOT BE 'SUCKERED' BY MADURO LIKE BIDEN Washington's warning was delivered in a phone call with Caracas and offered guaranteed evacuation for Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores, and their son, but only if the dictator agreed to resign on the spot, according to the Miami Herald. The Trump administration has ordered an increasingly significant military buildup in the Caribbean region around Venezuela since August, including the most sophisticated aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, concentrated in the region. Coates called the buildup "the most significant since Iraq." At least for now, however, Coates said the most likely route the administration will take is unleashing targeted airstrikes on cartel infrastructure in Venezuela. These, Coates explained, would likely be similar to the air strikes the Department of War has been unleashing on drug boats since September. SCHUMER ACCUSES TRUMP OF PUSHING US TOWARD ‘FOREIGN WAR’ WITH VENEZUELA "I would be surprised if there were…