Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said the Trump administration starting a war over drug trafficking which was “law enforcement action” did not make any sense.
RADDATZ: OK, I want to talk about Venezuela. The Pentagon is now sending a carrier strike group. You know the massive amount of firepower on a carrier strike group. What is your take on what is happening with these suspected drug boats. Is it legal?
KELLY: It’s questionable. And the White House and the Department of Defense could not give us a logical explanation on how this is legal. They were tying themselves in knots trying to explain this. We had a lot of questions for them, both Democrats and Republicans. It was not a good meeting. It did not go well. They have a secret list of 20 something — 24 organizations that they have now authorized to use — use kinetic action against without the normal approach that we have for law enforcement. Hey, we don’t want drugs in this country, especially fentanyl. But all these drugs, we — we should be working really hard to interdict them and prosecute the individuals that are smuggling drugs, not putting young service members at great, legal —
RADDATZ: Isn’t that something that we have been doing, that maybe wasn’t working and then a new approach (ph)?
KELLY: We haven’t been (INAUDIBLE) enough job (ph).
RADDATZ: Do — do you think —
KELLY: All the money that DHS currently has, put some of that money towards the Coast Guard to help them with this — the process of, how do you interdict the — interdict these drugs in the Caribbean.
By the way, those boats in the Caribbean do not carry fentanyl. Those routes are not used to traffic fentanyl to the United States. So, the whole story that this is about fentanyl that’s killing people is false.
RADDATZ: Have you seen evidence? Did they present evidence to you that these were drug boats, and, if so, what kind of drugs were on them?
KELLY: Yes.
RADDATZ: Yes, you were presented evidence? You’re convinced?
KELLY: We were — we were — we were presented some evidence that does not back up the story that the White House is telling to the American people
RADDATZ: And — and you mean just the fentanyl. But you believe there were drugs on those boats.
KELLY: Let me — there were drugs on some of these boats, yes.
RADDATZ: Just — just some of those boats. And he’s not going to make a declaration of war —
KELLY: We have evidence that there were drugs on some of these boats. But I don’t want to get into the details of which boats in which place and what was found. That was in a secure, in a SCIF.
RADDATZ: Understood.
KELLY: And some of that they want to keep — they — they want to keep that information away from the American people.
RADDATZ: Understood.
So, he has threatened an attack on land. We have just a — a few seconds here. Do you think that will happen, and will those carriers —
KELLY: Well, I don’t know. That’s — that’s a question for the White House. You don’t move a battlegroup all the way from where it was to the Caribbean unless you’re planning on either to intimidate the country, which is rather intimidating, or you’re going to start conducting combat operations in Venezuela. And this doesn’t make the United States more safe. This makes us less safe. I mean starting a war against Venezuela over what is a law enforcement action does not make any sense.
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