Hegseth declines to discuss possible US strikes in Venezuela

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declined to say whether the U.S. is preparing military strikes on Venezuela, while blasting Democrats over the ongoing shutdown that has delayed the federal government from paying U.S. troops.

The U.S. military has carried out more than a dozen strikes on vessels allegedly carrying drugs in international waters near Venezuela, killing dozens of suspected narco-terrorists, while the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group have been ordered deployed to the U.S. Southern Command region. The escalations have raised questions whether the U.S. may be lining up to topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. 

A reporter asked Hegseth Saturday at a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) defense ministers in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur if the United States was planning to strike inside Venezuela.