Former undersecretary of Defense Robert Wilkie told Newsmax on Friday that President Donald Trump "will get even more aggressive in the next few weeks" against drug traffickers following his strike on alleged traffickers in the southern Caribbean.
When asked on "Wake Up America" about Trump's decision to order the deployment of F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico just days after the U.S. destroyed a vessel that was allegedly trafficking drugs from Venezuela, Wilkie said, "Well, that is a pretty formidable naval task force that is sitting out there in the Caribbean, and we've never done this before, and it's long past due."
He added, "Look, at the heart of this is not the thug and killer [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro, it's China. China is the one that's supplying the raw materials for the production of fentanyl, sad to say that there's a demand in this country. It kills … in one year, twice as many people as we lost in Vietnam in 10 years."
Wilkie said that according to the Trump administration, "that boat that the Navy took out … had enough fentanyl just in 1 ounce to kill 14,000 Americans. And that's what we're dealing with. This is the message. It's long past overdue. And I think the president will get even more aggressive in the next few weeks."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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