Donald Trump has said he will address the nation on Wednesday evening from the White House.
The US President made a surprise announcement on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, saying that he would be speaking at 9pm EST today, and declared that the ‘best is yet to come’.
‘My fellow Americans: I will be giving an ADDRESS TO THE NATION tomorrow night, LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE’, he wrote on his social media post.
‘I look forward to ‘seeing’ you then. It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP’.
The US leader did not provide any further details about his announcement, while the White House has not offered any information regarding tonight’s speech.
It comes after Trump declared the Venezuelan regime a foreign terrorist organisation last night and ordered ‘a total and complete blockade’ of sanctioned oil tankers headed to and from the South American country.
The president’s drone strike campaign against drug boats in the region has killed 95 people to date but Trump is now going a step further in his campaign against leftist dictator Nicolas Maduro, whom he previously told to flee the country.
‘Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,’ he said.
Trump said that Maduro – whom he once again called ‘illegitimate’ – must give the United States the oil, land and other assets stolen by Venezuela.
He accused him of using stolen oil to finance narco-terrorism, human trafficking, murder, kidnapping and self-enrichment.
‘For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,’ he said.
‘Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela. The Illegal Aliens and Criminals that the Maduro Regime has sent into the United States during the weak and inept Biden Administration, are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace.’
In a sharp escalation last week, US forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration has accused of smuggling illicit crude.
Trump demanded Maduro’s ‘hostile regime’ return American assets ‘IMMEDIATELY.’
Trump has accompanied the strikes with a massive military buildup in the Caribbean that includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier and a slew of other warships, while a string of US military aircraft have flown along Venezuela’s coast in recent weeks.
While Trump and his administration say the target of the military buildup is drug-trafficking, Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro accuses Washington of using narcotics smuggling as a pretext for regime change in Caracas.
Should the US use military force and blockades to deal with drug trafficking?
Go to comments The United States has sought to link the two issues, accusing Maduro of leading the alleged ‘Cartel of the Suns,’ which it declared a ‘narco-terrorist’ organization last month, and offering a $50 million reward for information leading to his capture.
The US military has built up its largest presence in the region in decades and launched a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
The Trump administration has said the campaign is about stopping drugs headed to the US, but Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles appeared to confirm in a Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday that the campaign is part of a push to oust Maduro.
Wiles said Trump ‘wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.’
Meanwhile, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is continuing to face a barrage of questions for approving strikes on Venezuelan drug ships – especially regarding a now-infamous second strike on the first attack in September that killed two survivors.
The controversy stems from a strike against a vessel in the Caribbean Sea that the Trump administration claimed was carrying cocaine en route to the US.
A US missile disabled the speedboat and killed most on board, but two survivors were observed clinging to the wreckage and were thought to be attempting to radio for help.
Pentagon officials have justified the administration’s action by arguing the decision to authorize the second strike on September 2 was based on a perceived ongoing threat.
Lawmakers are now demanding to get unedited video from the strikes, but Hegseth has told congressional leaders he was still weighing whether to release it.
He instead provided a classified briefing for congressional leaders alongside Rubio and other top national security officials.
