THE NEW YORK TIMES: The president said he would bypass Congress rather than ask for approval for his military campaign against drug traffickers, even as he said it would expand from sea to land.
President Trump said on Thursday that he would bypass Congress rather than seek its approval to carry out military strikes against drug cartels that traffic narcotics to the United States, even as he vowed to expand the operation from attacks at sea to targets on land.
“I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” Mr. Trump told reporters of his campaign of deadly strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea near Colombia and Venezuela. “I think we are going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We are going to kill them, you know? They are going to be, like, dead.”
He made the remarks during a news conference at the White House to promote the work of agencies that Mr. Trump said were working to “arrest, prosecute and permanently remove” people who were part of an elaborate drug cartel operation inside the United States.
They came as the president has talked about expanding the legally questionable military operation he has undertaken over the past several weeks, in which nine airstrikes at sea have resulted in 37 acknowledged deaths. » | Robert Jimison | Robert Jimison, who covers foreign policy and defense issues in Congress, reported from Washington. | Thursday, October 23, 2025
Elect a criminal to lead you; expect criminal activity to follow. Killing people without proof of wrongdoing, without due process, is a crime. — © Mark Alexander
