In an exclusive phone conversation with MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough, President Donald Trump shed light on what could come next for Venezuela after the country was thrown into tumult by the U.S. military operation that ended with President Nicolás Maduro’s capture.
On “Morning Joe,” Scarborough shared details from his 20-minute call on Monday with the president, telling viewers that Trump was “very excited and proud” to share “insights on his decision to launch a military attack on Venezuela.”
Scarborough said that during the call, Trump praised the U.S. military’s “flawless execution of the operation,” as well as “the courage shown by those who raided Maduro’s fortress.” The MS NOW host said the president ended his summary of the attack by noting the “message” it would send to other adversaries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Scarborough said he questioned Trump about what would come next. “Was there a timeline? Was there a plan for reconstruction, for elections, for democracy?” he asked.
While the “Morning Joe” co-host said Trump did not share any new details about how the U.S. would “run” Venezuela in the interim, he did share an answer the president gave after being pressed about comparisons between the military’s actions in Venezuela and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“Joe, the difference between Iraq and this is that [former President George W.] Bush didn’t keep the oil. We’re going to keep the oil,” Trump said, according to Scarborough.
Scarborough added: “‘In 2016, I said we should have kept the oil. It caused a lot of controversy. Well, we should have kept the oil,’ the president said. ‘And we’re going to rebuild their broken-down oil facilities, and this time we’re going to keep the oil.’”
He then told viewers that “saying the United States is entering a new era of geopolitical engagement seems to be an understatement.”
Scarborough also spoke about White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller saying that the administration might not stop with Venezuela. On Monday, Miller told CNN’s Jake Tapper: “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
“This is a whole new world for America and its neighbors and the world,” Scarborough remarked.
“The question now for all of us,” he continued, “is how far the administration actually plans to go. How much of this is bluffing, how much is this actually going to be by design in these military operations across the hemisphere — and whether Congress will ever fulfill its constitutional duties and step up before the next military action begins.”
You can watch Scarborough’s full remarks in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.