Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is too scared to accept help from the U.S. military in confronting her nation's drug cartels, President Donald Trump said.
Trump told The Daily Caller in an interview on Friday that he offered to have U.S. forces assist in efforts to crack down on the flow of lethal drugs such as fentanyl across the border but said she is "very scared."
The Daily Caller released a transcript of the interview on Monday night.
Trump made similar comments earlier this year after Sheinbaum reportedly said in May that she turned down his offer for U.S. troops to help intervene against the nation's drug cartels, several of which have been declared foreign terrorist organizations or specially designated global terrorists by his administration.
Sheinbaum "is so afraid of the cartels she can't walk," Trump said at the time. "You know that's the reason. And I think she's a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can't even think straight."
Trump reiterated his admiration for Sheinbaum in the Daily Caller interview, saying "she's actually an amazing woman in some, in certain ways, very elegant, beautiful."
"But Mexico is run by the cartels," he said. "It's run by the cartels. I've offered to send in the military, and she doesn't want us to do that."
Trump was asked why.
"Because she's scared. … She's very scared," he said.
Newsmax has reached out to Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry for comment.
The drug cartels' influence in Mexico has been extensive, reaching into the halls of government. Two former government officials were charged last month with involvement in a drug trafficking operation, but Sheinbaum has dismissed any ties between sitting politicians and drug cartels.
Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel who pleaded guilty Aug. 25 to drug trafficking charges in the U.S., said he promoted corruption in Mexico by paying off "police, military commanders, and politicians," the Los Angeles Times reported.
"We don't have at this time any proof against any public servant, or member of the army [or] navy," Sheinbaum said, according to the Times. But she vowed that Mexico would prosecute any officials found to be on cartel payrolls.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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