WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said the US used a secret weapon he called “The Discombobulator” to disable Venezuelan equipment when the US captured Nicolás Maduro. Trump also renewed his threat to conduct military strikes on land against drug cartels, including in Mexico.
Trump made the comments in an interview Friday with the New York Post.
The Republican president was commenting on reports that the US had a pulsed energy weapon and said, “The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it.”
He said the weapon made Venezuelan equipment “not work.”
“They never got their rockets off. They had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they never got one off,” Trump said in the interview. “We came in, they pressed buttons and nothing worked. They were all set for us.”
Trump had previously said when describing the raid on Maduro’s compound that the US had turned off “almost all of the lights in Caracas,” but he didn’t detail how they accomplished that.
The president also indicated the US will continue its campaign of military strikes and could extend it from South America into North America as the administration tries to target drug cartels.
“We know their routes. We know everything about them. We know their homes. We know everything about them,” Trump said. “We’re going to hit the cartels.”
When asked if the strikes could occur in Central America or Mexico, Trump said: “Could be anywhere.”
The US on Friday carried out a strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the first such action since Maduro’s capture.
It marks at least 36 known strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early September that have killed at least 117 people.
Trump said the US has removed the oil aboard seven oil tankers connected to Venezuela that it has seized but wouldn’t reveal where the ships are now.
“I’m not allowed to tell you,” Trump said. “But let’s put it this way, they don’t have any oil. We take the oil.”
During the interview, the president also said that he was still trying to figure out where to hang the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, which she gave to him earlier this month. The prize was leaning against a statue in the Oval Office.
Trump also told the newspaper that the framework of an Arctic security deal he struck with NATO chief Mark Ruttte would give the US ownership of the land where American bases are located.
“We’ll have everything we want,” Trump said. “We have some interesting talks going on.”
Much of the potential deal remains unclear. Leaders of Denmark and Greenland have said the island’s sovereignty was non-negotiable and a NATO spokesperson said Rutte, in his conversations with Trump, did not propose any “compromise to sovereignty.”
The president said he would not go to the Super Bowl and called it a “terrible choice” for Bad Bunny and Green Day to perform at the game. He attended last year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans.
Trump says US used secret weapon to disable Venezuelan equipment in Maduro raid
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Trump says US used secret weapon to disable Venezuelan equipment in Maduro raid
- Trump said the US has removed the oil aboard seven oil tankers connected to Venezuela that it has seized but wouldn’t reveal where the ships are now
Russia says two crew members from US-seized tanker released
- “Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” Zakharova said
- Russia announced earlier this month that the US had decided to release the Russian duo
MOSCOW: Moscow said Wednesday two Russian crew members of a tanker seized this month by the United States in the Atlantic had been released and were on their way home.
US authorities took over the Russian-flagged vessel earlier this month, alleging it was part of a shadow fleet carrying oil from countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
The United States said publicly that the Marinera’s crew could be prosecuted. Russia said that would be “categorically unacceptable” and accused Washington of stoking tensions and threatening international shipping.
“Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday.
Russia announced earlier this month that the United States had decided to release the two Russian crew members, but last week its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the decision had not yet been implemented.
The captain and the first officer of the tanker have left UK waters, Solicitor General for Scotland, Ruth Charteris told a court hearing Tuesday, Press Association news agency reported.
“The captain and the first officer are now aboard the US Coast Guard vessel Munro and have departed the United Kingdom’s territorial sea,” Charteris said.
Twenty-six of the 28 crew have left the ship, officials told AFP. They were processed at a military site in Inverness, Scotland, the court was told, according to Press Association.
Five wanted to travel to the United States and 21 elsewhere. None have claimed asylum, the court heard.
“At the request of the US authorities, crew members have been allowed to disembark for onwards travel,” a UK government spokesperson told AFP Wednesday.
“They will be processed in line with all appropriate immigration and legal requirements.”
Britain was not involved in the movement of the other two crew members, the government said.
The United States seized the tanker, previously known as Bella 1, which was being escorted by the Russian navy, after chasing it from near the Venezuelan coast.
It was re-flagged and re-named to bring it under Russian jurisdiction in a bid to discourage the United States from trying to take it as part of its campaign against Venezuela.
