In a radio interview, President Trump said the United States struck a “big plant or a big facility” where boats allegedly trafficking drugs come from.
“They have a big plant or a big facility where the ships come from,” Trump said, without explicitly stating the exact target.
“Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard,” he added.
Although Trump did not name the country or provide further details, many people are speculating that it was a Venezuelan facility.
Trump made the comments during an interview on WABC’s “Cats and Cosby.”
Take a listen:
President Trump says in an interview that the U.S. struck Venezuela on December 26th:
“We just knocked out, I don’t know if you read or you saw, they have a big plant, a big facility where the ships come from; two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.” pic.twitter.com/AYSMcGBz4n
— Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) December 28, 2025
More from The New York Times:
If Mr. Trump’s suggestion that the United States had struck a site in the region proves accurate, it would be the first known attack on land since he began his military campaign against Venezuela. U.S. officials declined to specify anything about the site the president said was hit, where it was located, how the attack was carried out or what role the facility played in drug trafficking. There has been no public report of an attack from the Venezuelan government or any other authorities in the region.
While some officials called the facility struck a drug production site, it is not clear what role in narcotics trafficking the facility would have played. Venezuela is well known for its role in trafficking drugs, especially cocaine produced in Colombia, but has not been a major producer of narcotics.
Mr. Trump has been promising strikes on land in Venezuela for weeks, part of an intensifying pressure campaign on Nicolás Maduro, the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, who is under indictment in the United States for his role in the drug trade.
Mr. Trump authorized the C.I.A. to begin planning covert operations inside Venezuela months ago.
The United States has been conducting military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since September. The administration maintains that the vessels are transporting cocaine. The operations have killed at least 105 people so far, and have been called extrajudicial killings by critics who say the U.S. military has no legal basis for lethal strikes against civilians. The administration has defended the attacks by asserting that the United States is in a conflict with what it calls narco-terrorists who can only be stopped with military force.
Trump addressed his comments to reporters on Monday.
“Did the military do that?” one reporter asked.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said.
“So we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement, and that is no longer around,” he continued.
Trump gave no further comment.
Footage below:
JUST IN: The United States has conducted its first land strike against Venezuela, according to President Donald Trump.
Reporter: You mentioned in a radio interview … did the military do that?
Trump: There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up… pic.twitter.com/XMIZf1vT2q
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 29, 2025
NBC News noted:
When asked by a reporter whether the attack was the only U.S. strike inside the country, Trump declined to comment.
The administration has ramped up pressure on Venezuela in recent months. In October, Trump confirmed that he had authorized the CIA to take unspecified action in Venezuela, an unusual acknowledgement about covert action. The president told White House reporters that he took the action because the country “emptied their prisons into the United States of America,” a frequent accusation he has made without providing evidence, and also because of narcotics trafficking.
In a December phone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to rule out a war with Venezuela. Days earlier, he ordered a blockade of “sanctioned oil tankers” to and from the country and the military seized an oil tanker off of Venezuela’s coast.
In the interview with WABC radio, the station’s owner, John Catsimatidis, argued that “Venezuela is going to provide a lot more oil to the United States of America if Maduro leaves,” referring to Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
“Well, it’s about a lot of things,” Trump said. “It’s about that. It’s about, you know, they took our oil, they took it, and they also sent millions of people in there from jails into our country, from jail, some of the worst people on Earth.”
Trump then went on to talk about drug trafficking, which the administration has consistently pointed to as the rationale behind the boat strikes.
Listen to the full interview below: