Copyright The New York Times
President Trump said he doubted the United States would go to war with Venezuela in an interview aired on Sunday, even as he warned that the days were numbered for the nation’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro. “I doubt it,” Mr. Trump said of the prospect of war with Venezuela during the interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes.” “I don’t think so. But they’ve been treating us very badly.” Mr. Trump was pressed on the potential escalation against Venezuela as the U.S. military continues an offensive that has included 15 strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific in the past month. A broad range of legal specialists on the use of lethal force have said that the strikes were illegal extrajudicial killings. The Trump administration has described the strikes as a counterdrug mission, but U.S. officials privately concede they are part of a larger drive to oust Mr. Maduro. Mr. Trump previously confirmed that he had authorized the C.I.A. to conduct covert action in Venezuela. “On Venezuela in particular, are Maduro’s days as president numbered?” asked the CBS journalist Norah O’Donnell. “I would say yeah,” Mr. Trump responded. “I think so, yeah.” When asked about the possibility of land strikes on Venezuela, he declined to answer. “I don’t talk to a reporter about whether or not I’m going to strike,” he said. During the wide-ranging interview, recorded at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, Mr. Trump was also pressed on his deportation campaign, the government shutdown and his recent demand for the U.S. military to resume conducting nuclear tests. On Sunday, Mr. Trump’s energy secretary, Chris Wright, appeared to clarify that the testing would not involve actual nuclear explosions, but rather that “the other parts of a nuclear weapon” would be tested to ensure they are working properly. But the president did not make that distinction in the CBS interview. “Are you saying that after more than 30 years, the United States is going to start detonating nuclear weapons for testing?” Ms. O’Donnell asked Mr. Trump. “I’m saying that we’re going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do, yes,” Mr. Trump said. Detonation tests are not common anymore. The only nation that has been regularly doing nuclear tests in the past quarter-century is North Korea, and its last explosive test was in September 2017. China has rapidly expanded its nuclear stockpile and deployed missiles in new silos, but it has not tested a nuclear weapon since 1996. Russia has not conducted a confirmed test since 1990, although it recently declared that it had tested two exotic delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons. Mr. Trump claimed without evidence on Friday that those nations were testing nuclear weapons covertly. “Russia’s testing nuclear weapons, and China’s testing them, too,” he said. “You just don’t know about it.” Days after meeting China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, in South Korea, Mr. Trump said in the CBS interview that he would not allow Nvidia to sell its most advanced chips to China. “We will let them deal with Nvidia but not in terms of the most advanced,” Mr. Trump said. Jensen Huang, the head of the Silicon Valley chip-making company, said on Friday that he was eager for it to resume selling advanced semiconductors in China. Trump had suggested before his meeting with Mr. Xi last week that the two leaders would discuss Nvidia’s most powerful A.I. semiconductors. Mr. Trump also discussed his domestic agenda, including his deportation campaign. Mr. Trump said he did not believe the tactics of U.S. immigration authorities had gone too far, even when he was pressed about videos showing deportation officers and federal agents shoving a young mother, deploying tear gas in Chicago and smashing car windows. “I think they haven’t gone far enough because we’ve been held back by the judges, by the liberal judges,” Mr. Trump said. “You have to get the people out.” When asked about his deportation campaign targeting people with noncriminal records, Mr. Trump said, “I need landscapers, and I need farmers more than anybody, OK?” But he added that his administration’s efforts on immigration must start with a policy. “And the policy has to be, ‘You came into the country illegally. You’re going to go out,’” he said. Mr. Trump did not provide clarity on his administration’s strategy for helping Republicans and Democrats in Congress reach a deal to end the government shutdown. He said he would not be “extorted by the Democrats,” who have said they will not provide Republicans with the votes to reopen the government until they include additional money for health care programs. Mr. Trump also repeated his call for Republicans to end the Senate filibuster, something Senate G.O.P. leaders have rejected. Many Republicans worry that any further weakening of the Senate rule that requires most legislation to win 60 votes would backfire if Democrats regained control. “Republicans have to get tougher,” Mr. Trump said during his interview. Mr. Trump was also asked to clarify whether he would try to run for a third term, which is barred by the Constitution. The president said he doesn’t think about such a move, even though he has publicly mused about the prospect. He said the Republican Party had an “unbelievable bench” of presidential contenders, noting he liked both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mr. Trump also offered praise for Bari Weiss, the newly appointed editor in chief of CBS News, calling her “a great new leader,” though he added, “I don’t know her.” CBS’s owner, Paramount, said in July that it had agreed to pay President Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit against “60 Minutes.” The Trump administration then approved Paramount’s sale to Skydance. Skydance later appointed Ms. Weiss, who also runs The Free Press, a website she founded that is often critical of liberals and the mainstream media. Michael M. Grynbaum contributed reporting.
