President Donald Trump flirted with the idea of conducting U.S. military operations in Mexico in a wild Oval Office moment that saw him muse that “stranger things have happened” on Monday night.
Trump’s comments came after Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked him, “If the [Mexican drug] cartels are now going to be seen as foreign terror organizations, would you think about ordering U.S. Special Forces into Mexico to take them out?”
“Could happen. Stranger things have happened,” answered the president curtly before fielding two quick questions about Venezuela and ICE raids.
Moments later, White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf handed Trump the official executive order “designating the cartels and other organizations to be foreign terrorist organizations.”
“That’s a big one,” declared Trump. “People have wanted to do this for years. So they are now designated as terrorist organizations, foreign. And Mexico probably doesn’t want that, but we have to do what’s right. They’re killing our people. They’re killing 250, 300,000 American people a year, not 100, like has been reported for 15 years. It’s probably 300,000.”
“If the president of Mexico doesn’t want that, how are you going to deal with this?” asked one reporter.
“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask them,” replied Trump before signing another executive order on the border.
Trump reaffirmed his intention to deem the cartels foreign terrorist organizations last month, telling a gathering in Arizona that at his direction, “All foreign gang members will be expelled and I will immediately designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. I will do it immediately.”
“I was very tough on Mexico. I spoke to the new president, a woman who was lovely and wonderful, President [Claudia] Sheinbaum, a wonderful woman, but I said to her: ‘You can’t do this to our country,’” he continued.
Sheinbaum has expressed her opposition to Trump’s action while insisting that “we do not accept interference in our country.”
Watch above via CNN.
