US may launch second attack on Venezuela? Trump responded in interview with NBC News

The United States may carry out a second attack on Venezuela if acting President Delcy Rodríguez does not cooperate with American authorities, US President Donald Trump warned.

In an interview with NBC News, Trump noted that Rodríguez is already in contact with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who “speaks to her fluently in Spanish” and said their “relationship has been very strong,” Caliber.Az reports.

At the same time, Trump denied media claims that Rodríguez had any coordination with the US prior to the overthrow of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. When asked if there was “any deal with any official in Venezuela to remove” Maduro, Trump said that “a lot of people wanted to make a deal, but we decided to do it this way,” adding that it was done without the help of Maduro's inner circle.

The president also stated that Venezuela will not hold new elections in the next 30 days, projecting a longer-term engagement following the US forces’ capture of Maduro. 

“We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote,” he said about the possibility of a vote in the next month. “No, it’s going to take a period of time. We have — we have to nurse the country back to health.”

Moreover, the American leader noted that the US may subsidise an effort by oil companies to rebuild the country's energy infrastructure — a project he said could take less than 18 months. 

Trump also insisted the US is not at war with Venezuela. “No, we’re not,” he said. “We’re at war with people that sell drugs. We’re at war with people that empty their prisons into our country and empty their drug addicts and empty their mental institutions into our country.”

By Jeyhun Aghazada