President Donald Trump is weighing in on the future of two countries and one territory after an extraordinary U.S. military operation in Venezuela captured leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump projected the collapse of Cuba, harshly threatened Colombia’s president and repeated his desire to annex Greenland.
The comments came as Trump was returning to Washington from Mar-a-Lago, less than two days after the U.S. strike on Caracas at his direction. Maduro and his wife are set to make their first appearance in federal court on Monday to face narco-terrorism charges that the Trump administration used to bring him to New York.
Trump first ripped into Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has emerged as a staunch critic, describing him as “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
“And he’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you,” Trump said. “He’s not going to be doing it very long.”
When asked about the possibility of a U.S. operation, Trump replied: “It sounds good to me.”
Trump then said he doesn’t believe the United States needs to intervene in Cuba, claiming the country has “no income” because “they got all of their income” from Venezuelan oil.
“They’re not getting any of it,” Trump said, going on to add, “Cuba looks like it’s ready to fall. I don’t know if they’re going to hold out.”
In later remarks, Trump said he did not want to discuss his stance on Greenland when asked by a reporter about whether the U.S. would also take action in the Danish territory.
“Let’s talk about Venezuela, Russia. Ukraine,” he said. “We’ll worry about Greenland in about two months. Let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days.”
But he then expressed his desire to acquire it — a claim he has frequently repeated since returning to the White House.
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it, I can tell you that,” Trump said.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen later urged the United States to “stop the threats against a historically close ally” in a statement on Sunday.
“It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the U.S. needing to take over Greenland,” Frederiksen wrote. “The U.S. has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish Kingdom.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified on Sunday that the United States will not govern the day-to-day operations of Venezuela, but will continue to uphold a blockade of “sanctioned oil tankers” into the country. Trump had previously claimed that the country would “run” Venezuela temporarily.
Last month, Trump did not rule out a potential war with Venezuela in an interview with NBC News. At the time, he declined to answer whether he wanted Maduro ousted.
“He knows exactly what I want,” Trump said. “He knows better than anybody.”
