War Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down Wednesday on the Trump administration's position it has the legal authority to destroy boats in South American waters that it says are smuggling narcotics for drug cartels.
"We got lawyers on lawyers, all the authorities necessary to do so, treating these terrorists like the al-Qaida of the Western Hemisphere," Hegseth said at a war industry event in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The nation's most advanced aircraft carrier has now entered the U.S. military's Southern Command region, where at least 75 people in small boats have been killed in U.S. airstrikes.
The naval buildup is fueling speculation Trump could try to topple Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, who faces U.S. charges of narcoterrorism. Senate Republicans voted down a Democrat effort to check Trump's power to launch an attack against Venezuela.
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