Trump Reacts To Headlines Of ‘Imminent’ Land Attack: ‘No Strikes On Venezuela’

Update(1155ET): It took a few mere hours for President Trump to react to headlines from early this morning declaring, “US strikes on Venezuela possibly days away.” The Miami Herald cited sources who said it could just be even just “hours” away. 

Of course, if these land strikes against military and cartel locations are indeed imminent, the Pentagon would want to maintain the element of surprise. So Trump has either just now authentically rejected that it’s going to happen at all, or else is seeking to run cover in order to keep that military element of surprise and edge. Now he’s saying there will be “no strikes on Venezuela”. Asked whether he’s decided on such strikes, Trump responded “no”. “President Trump reversed the decision Friday afternoon, stating no strikes would happen, leaving the military buildup’s intent unclear amid ongoing U.S. efforts against drug trafficking,” breaking reports say.

• TRUMP: NO STRIKES ON VENEZUELA
• TRUMP ON NUCLEAR TESTS: WE’RE GOING TO DO SOME TESTING
• TRUMP ON NUCLEAR TESTS: YOU’LL FIND OUT VERY SOON

And oil promptly dumped on the Venezuela-related headline…

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New Friday morning reporting says that President Trump has made the decision to attack Venezuela, ahead of which has seen an unprecedented US military build-up in the South Caribbean, and has included redeploying the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier group from the Mediterranean to join operations off Venezuela.

The planned attacks against Venezuelan military installations are being reported in The Miami Herald and The Wall Street Journal, both which describe the impending assault as imminent.

“The Trump Administration has made the decision to attack military installations inside Venezuela and the strikes could come at any moment, sources with knowledge of the situation told the Miami Herald, as the U.S. prepares to initiate the next stage of its campaign against the Soles drug cartel,” Miami Herald writes.

The will “seek to destroy military installations used by the drug-trafficking organization the U.S. says is headed by Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and run by top members of his regime,” the report continues.

Sources say it could come in just “hours” or a matter of “days”:

Sources told the Herald that the targets — which could be struck by air in a matter of days or even hours — also aim to decapitate the cartel’s hierarchy. U.S. officials believe the cartel exports around 500 tons of cocaine yearly, split between Europe and the United States. While sources declined to say whether Maduro himself is a target, one of them said his time is running out.

“Maduro is about to find himself trapped and might soon discover that he cannot flee the country even if he decided to,” the source said. “What’s worse for him, there is now more than one general willing to capture and hand him over, fully aware that one thing is to talk about death, and another to see it coming.”

It sounds like it will be a full regime change operation, with a ‘friendly’ pro-US opposition leader likely to be installed into power – such as the latest Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, who just in a non-peaceful manner warned Maduro that “his time is up”, after repeatedly calling on Trump for some kind of intervention in her country.

Oil spiked on the new war headlines, in a place which has the world’s largest proven crude reserves…

Up to this point, the significant number of US assets positioned in regional waters have only engaged in maritime operations, having blown up some 15 suspected narco-smuggling boats at this point, and killing and wounding dozens. But in classified briefings to Congressional leaders, reports suggest the Pentagon can’t confirm the identities of who it is actually taking out, even though they’ve been labeled high valued ‘narco-terrorists’ who ultimately do the bidding of President Maduro.