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Donald Trump’s 4 horror phrases as he threatens Venezuela with ‘second wave’

Trump hasn’t ruled out ‘boots on the ground’ in Venezuela to eliminate the risk that ‘someone else will take over’ and ensure the US will ‘run the country’ until a ‘safe transition’

US President Donald Trump has raised fears of further US military action in Venezuela in a press conference where he stressed that “we’re not afraid of boots on the ground”.

He warned that the United States is ready, if needed, to stage a second “much larger” attack on Venezuela after its strikes to capture President Nicolas Maduro.

In a stunning statement to a press conference today at his Mar-a-Largo club Trump described how the US planned to “run the country” following the raid last night: “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

“We want peace liberty and justice for the great people of Venezuela, that includes people living in the US and who want to go home,” he said. In a chilling warning he added: “We can’t take a chance that someone else will take over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”

Trump also implied the US might turn to military force again in backing up its ambitions to rule Venezuela for the time being. He told the US was ready for a “second wave” attack, “a much bigger wave” if necessary.

He further told reporters: “We’re there now. But we’re going to stay until such time as a proper transition can take place.

“We’re going to run it, essentially…” While the military had planned for a second wave assault, the successful extraction of president President Nicolas Maduro and his wife meant it wasn’t necessary, he explained.

“It was pinpoint, but we have a much bigger wave,” he said. Trump added that US oil companies would take over the country’s massive oil reserves.

He described the Venezuelan oil business “a bust” that is “pumping nothing compared to what they could be”. US oil companies were going to go in and would spend “billions” of dollars, he said, to “fix the badly broken oil infrastructure”.

Revenue from Venezuela’s oil reserves, he added, would pay for military operations. Trump added that the people of Venezuela would be “rich, independent and safe” as a result on the US taking over control of their country.

Following his statement the president took questions from the press, including one on whether the US would need “boots on the ground” to enforce its rule. “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” he said.

He added that the US military had “boots on the ground last night at a very high level”. He said: “We’re going to make sure that country is run properly.

“We’re designating people right now [and] we’re going to let you know who those people are.”

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