Trump Talks US Involvement In Venezuela's Oil Industry Following Strike: 'What Can I Say?'

President Donald Trump said the United States will be “very strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil industry in an interview just hours after he announced that the military had conducted a strike against the country and captured its leader, President Nicolas Maduro.

Speaking to Fox & Friends by phone Saturday morning, Trump was asked about “the future” of the oil industry in the South American country, which houses the world’s largest oil reserves.

“Well, I see that we’re going to be very strongly involved in it, that’s all,” the president responded. “I mean, what can I say?”

He touted the US as having the “biggest” and “greatest” oil companies in the world before reiterating, “we’re going to be very much involved in it.”

Later in the conversation, Trump defended the military action as “saving lives” amid the flow of illegal drugs into the US. The Justice Department released an indictment on Saturday morning of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges.

In previous weeks, the Trump administration has killed at least 115 people in military strikes on boats it said were involved in drug smuggling.

“I think it sends a signal we’re not going to be, we’re not going to be pushed around as a country anymore by these countries,” Trump told Fox.