Trump claims US struck facility in Venezuela campaign, but offers no details

WASHINGTON - President Trump casually told a radio show last week that the U.S. "knocked out" a "big facility," seemingly in Venezuela, as part of the militarized pressure campaign against alleged narco-terrorists.

The big picture: If the U.S. struck Venezuela as the president suggested, it would be a major escalation in Trump's mission targeting the Caribbean nation. Yet three days after the remarks, no government agency has provided details, confirmation or evidence of any such attack.

• The Pentagon did not confirm whether a strike occurred and referred Axios to the White House regarding the president's comments.

• The White House and the CIA did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment, and Venezuelan officials do not appear to have commented on the president's statement.

Driving the news: "We just knocked out — I don't know if you read or you saw — they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the ... where the ships come from. Two nights ago, we knocked that out," the president said in a Friday phone interview with WABC radio host John Catsimatidis.

• Trump added, "We hit them very hard."

• While he did not specifically identify Venezuela, the context suggested he was referencing the country.

Catch up quick: For months, U.S. forces have battered ships in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific with lethal airstrikes in what officials have described as a campaign to curb the flow of drugs.

• But in recent weeks, the administration has increasingly zeroed in on oil — vital to Venezuela's economy — and seized tankers in a tightening squeeze on dictator Nicolás Maduro.

• Venezuela has condemned the tanker seizures and military strikes, with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez accusing Trump of attempting to steal "the wealth that belongs to our nation."

• Trump claimed in the Friday interview with WABC that "they took our oil," a framing experts dispute.

What they're saying: Ryan Goodman, a professor at New York University School of Law and the co-editor-in-chief of Just Security, said in an email to Axios that it's "difficult to know" what exactly Trump meant by his comment, "but it sounds like a strike on a facility possibly on land."

• The use of military force on Venezuelan territory would "cross a red line" under international law, he told Axios, and could trigger Venezuela's right to exercise self-defense.

• "If the United States conducted such an operation, I could understand why it would be covert -- to minimize blowback from the international community, including our allies," Goodman added.

There has been no further details backing up the president's comments, which largely flew under the radar until Monday. (Source: Axios)