After boats, now land strikes? Trump says can hit drug traffickers without Congress war declaration

The US military has built up an unusually large force in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off Venezuela, raising speculation that President Donald Trump could try to topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S.

Adding to the speculation, the US military, since early September, has been carrying out lethal strikes on vessels in the waters off Venezuela that Trump says are trafficking drugs.

According to flight tracking data, a pair of B-1 Lancer bombers took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas on Thursday and flew through the Caribbean and up to the coast of Venezuela. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, confirmed that a training flight of B-1s took place in the Caribbean.