Report: Trump to Meet With Cabinet Members Monday to Talk ‘Next Steps’ on Venezuela
The summary of the article is as follows:
President Donald Trump, with American military forces positioned near Venezuela, is planning a meeting with top aides to decide the next steps regarding the U.S. pressure campaign on Venezuela. Trump recently declared Venezuela’s airspace closed to U.S.flights, amid escalating tensions with Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. In a recent phone call, the White House reportedly urged Maduro to take his family out of Venezuela, but he refused, wanting to maintain control over the armed forces. the U.S. has deployed 11 warships,including the USS Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group,and around 15,000 troops in the Caribbean region. Trump has indicated potential forthcoming actions against drug trafficking operations based in venezuela but cautioned against reading too much into the airspace closure as a sign of immediate military strikes. Venezuela has firmly rejected U.S. efforts to close its airspace and suspended deportation flights from the U.S. The upcoming meeting with senior officials like the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State aims to solidify U.S. strategy to dismantle what it calls a narco-terrorist regime in Venezuela.
After ringing Venezuela with American forces offshore, President Donald Trump will meet with top aides Monday to chart his next steps, according to a new report.
On Saturday, Trump said in a post that Venezuela’s airspace should be considered closed.
On Sunday, a report in the Miami Herald said that Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was told by the White House in a recent phone call that the time to take his immediate family and leave the country is now.
The report said Maduro refused, saying he wanted to keep control of the nation’s armed forces.
Trump on Sunday confirmed he and Maduro spoke, according to The Hill.
Asked how he could categorize the call, Trump said, “No, I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call.”
CNN reported that a 5 p.m. Monday meeting would cement the future of the American pressure campaign, which Trump has said is aimed at dismantling a narco-terrorist base of operations in Venezuela.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller are expected to attend, CNN reported, citing sources it did not name.
Mapping potential military targets in Venezuela
Yesterday, the U.S. announced Operation Southern Spear to “remove narco-terrorists from our hemisphere.” With the Ford carrier strike group now on station in SOUTHCOM, the U.S. could launch land strikes at any time.
w/ @SA_Defensa pic.twitter.com/WmyZ4mK2EY
— Ian Ellis (@ianellisjones) November 15, 2025
Trump last week said that after weeks of interdicting drug-carrying boats at sea, efforts to do so on land could begin “very soon.”
However, as noted by The Hill, on Sunday, Trump added, “Don’t read anything into it,” when asked if his airspace comment was a prelude to airstrikes.
Asked why airspace was being closed, Trump said, “Because we consider Venezuela to be not a very friendly country.”
“They sent millions of people really and probably a number in excess of that and a lot of those people shouldn’t be in our country from jails, from gangs, drug dealers, from all of the people that came into our country, shouldn’t have been in our country causing a lot of problems and drugs,” Trump said.
As noted by CBS, Venezuela pushed back against Trump’s airspace closure.
“No authority outside the Venezuelan institutionality has the power to interfere, block or condition the use of national airspace,” its government said in its statement Saturday, adding that it “unilaterally suspended” flights from American that took deported illegal immigrants back home.
U.S.–Venezuela tensions are hitting a breaking point. Warships in position, airspace sealed, Maduro cornered. The narco regime is running out of time. America won’t tolerate a cartel dictatorship on our doorstep. Hemisphere security isn’t optional. pic.twitter.com/FYFV8TJhr8
— MAG🔫1775🇺🇸 (@realMAG1775) December 1, 2025
The New York Post reported that the U.S. has 11 warships near Venezuela, headlined by the USS Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group of more than 70 aircraft. About 15,000 U.S. service members are in the region.
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