Trump Says He Can Target Drug Traffickers Abroad Without Congress Declaring War

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that he can authorize military strikes against alleged drug traffickers outside the United States without Congress issuing a formal declaration of war.

Speaking on Friday, October 24, Trump said he did not see the need for congressional approval before acting against what he described as foreign cartels threatening U.S. security.

“I’m not going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” Trump stated. “We’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. They’re going to be dead.”

The former president suggested that his administration would soon expand its operations to target suspected cartel members in countries like Venezuela, in addition to striking alleged drug boats in international waters. He maintained that Congress would be informed before any ground operations began but claimed lawmakers were unlikely to oppose his plan.

“I don’t see any loss in going to Congress,” Trump added. “We’ll tell them what we’re going to do, and they’ll probably like it — except for the radical left lunatics.”

Trump’s comments come amid growing concerns among lawmakers about the legality of recent U.S. military actions against alleged narco-terrorists, given the lack of publicly available evidence supporting the administration’s claims.

Defending the operations, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asserted that all targeted vessels had been confirmed to be involved in drug trafficking. He said the handling of survivors from a recent strike followed “standard wartime practice,” explaining that they were treated by U.S. medics before being handed over to their home countries.

Trump also addressed reports that an American B-1 Lancer bomber had flown near Venezuela’s coast on Thursday. While he denied that the U.S. deployed the aircraft, he accused Venezuela of contributing to drug trafficking and sending prisoners into the U.S.

The flight, tracked on open-source radar platforms, reportedly came within 50 miles of the Venezuelan mainland and briefly appeared in the country’s flight information region. The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Caracas following the deployment of U.S. warships to the Caribbean under a counter-narcotics campaign.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro recently claimed his country had 5,000 Russian-made Igla-S anti-aircraft missiles positioned to defend its airspace, warning that they could shoot down low-flying targets such as drones and bombers.