Trump Says Military Took Out Venezuelan Boat Carrying ‘A Lot Of Drugs’

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday afternoon that American forces had taken out a “drug-carrying boat” coming out of Venezuela.

Trump made the comments during a press conference from the White House announcing that Space Command will be moving its headquarters from Colorado to Alabama. He said that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had briefed him just before the press conference.

“When you come out and when you leave the room, you’ll see that we just, over the last few minutes literally, shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat. And you’ll be seeing that, and you’ll be reading about that,” Trump said.

???? @POTUS: We just, over the last few minutes, shot out a drug-carrying boat… and there’s more where that came from… These came out of Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/JlurCZWBpG

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 2, 2025

“It just happened moments ago and our great general, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has been so incredible, including what took place in Iran knocking out potential nuclear power for a long time to come … he gave us a little bit of a briefing. And you’ll see. There’s more where that came from. We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country. Coming in for a long time,” he added.

He said that the boat came out of Venezuela. “We took it out and you’ll get to see that after this meeting is over,” Trump said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the strike in a post on X.

“As [Trump] just announced moments ago, today the U.S. military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Carribean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization,” Rubio posted on X.

The strike comes as tensions have been rising between Trump and Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Last month, Trump directed the Pentagon to deploy U.S. troops and warships to address “threats to U.S. national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region,” according to Reuters.

The Trump administration has accused Maduro and his government of taking part in massive drug trafficking operations that smuggle narcotics into the United States. The government recently increased the bounty on Maduro to $50 million, citing his alleged ties to transnational gangs and drug cartels.