President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday, during a press conference at the White House, that he had authorized unspecified CIA intelligence activity in Venezuela amid the Trump administration's offensive against Latin American drug traffickers. (Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis and Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images)
"Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America. They came in through the border. They came in because we had an open border policy. And as soon as I heard that, ‘I said a lot of these countries' – they're not the only country, but they're the worst abuser, and they've allowed thousands and thousands of prisoners, people from mental institutions, insane asylums – emptied out into the United States," Trump told reporters Wednesday after they asked why he took the move to authorize CIA activity in Venezuela.
"We're bringing them back… they did it at a level that probably –—many, many countries have done it also, but not like Venezuela — they were down and dirty," Trump continued. "And the other thing is drugs. We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela."
TRUMP PRAISED AFTER PUTTING ‘NARCO TERRORIST’ MADURO ON NOTICE
Following Trump's comments about why he was authorizing CIA activity in Venezuela, the president was pressed by a reporter on whether the intelligence agency would have the authority to take out Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who Trump and his administration have accused of leading a "narco-dictatorship."
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores parade in a military vehicle during celebrations for the Independence Day, in Caracas on July 5, 2025. (JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images)
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"We're not going to let this country, our country, be ruined because other people want to drop, as you say, ‘their worst’ — they have given us their worst. They've loaded up our country with prisoners, with mentally ill people that are seriously ill, criminally ill, and we're not going to take it," the president continued. "And I can tell you we've taken care of the sea. There's nobody. And we're watching, we're watching. And if we see it, we'll save it."
Fox News Digital's Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/watch-trump-reveals-two-key-reasons-why-he-is-authorizing-cia-activity-venezuela