Trump Convenes Oval Office Meeting On Escalating Venezuela Campaign

President Donald Trump will gather senior national security officials at the White House on Monday evening to determine next steps on Venezuela, according to sources who spoke with CNN, as Washington sharply ramps up its pressure campaign on the Maduro regime.

Key Cabinet officials are slated to participate, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller are also expected at the session.

The meeting, scheduled for 5 p.m. ET in the Oval Office, follows a series of intensified U.S. actions targeting Venezuela, including strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels and a significant military buildup in the Caribbean. The Pentagon says “Operation Southern Spear” has already placed more than a dozen U.S. warships and roughly 15,000 troops in the area.

Last week, Trump signaled that U.S. interdiction efforts would soon expand beyond the sea routes. He said the administration would begin blocking Venezuelan drug networks by land as well, adding that such actions were coming “very soon.”

Over the weekend, Trump issued a sweeping social-media directive cautioning pilots, airlines, and criminal groups to stay clear of Venezuelan airspace. Speaking to reporters Sunday, he downplayed any broader implications of that statement.

Trump also acknowledged having spoken by phone with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, though he did not elaborate on the contents of the conversation. Just days earlier, the administration formally labeled Maduro and several senior figures in his government as members of a foreign terrorist organization; an action officials argue provides expanded U.S. authority for potential operations inside Venezuela.

The Oval Office meeting comes amid growing scrutiny from lawmakers over the legality of recent U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats, attacks that have resulted in more than 80 deaths. Critics in Congress note that the U.S. is not formally at war with Venezuela.

CNN reported last week, citing sources familiar with the matter, that a second strike was carried out on a suspected drug vessel after an initial attack failed to kill everyone aboard.

Members of both parties have raised alarms, with some warning the actions may constitute a “war crime.”

“The law is clear,” Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent, told CNN on Monday morning. “If the facts are, as have been alleged, that there was a second strike specifically to kill the survivors in the water — that’s a stone-cold war crime. It’s also murder.”

King, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said lawmakers plan to question officials “up and down the chain of command.”

“The question is, what order did the secretary of defense give and how was that executed? And we’re going to be talking to people, as I say, all the way up, up to the top of the chain of command and down to the people that actually triggered that attack,” he said.

On Sunday, Trump issued a stark ultimatum to Maduro, telling him, “You can save yourself and those closest to you, but you must leave the country now,” according to the Miami Herald.

Washington reportedly offered safe passage for Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores, their son, and several allies if he departed immediately, but Caracas rejected the terms, causing the talks to collapse. Trump later confirmed he had spoken with Maduro, saying only, “I wouldn’t say it went well or badly.” The Herald reported that Maduro demanded two guarantees; global amnesty for crimes attributed to his circle, and the right to retain control of the armed forces in exchange for allowing free elections. The US refused both requests and insisted Maduro step down at once.