Trump: Maduro's days are numbered

US President Donald Trump -

With US military operations ongoing in the Southern Caribbean, particularly against alleged drug-transporting vessels out of Venezuela, US President Donald Trump believes his Venezuelan counterpart's days are numbered.

His statement comes in response to a question by CBS's 60 Minutes host Norah O'Donnell. The interview at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida touched on a wide range of topics, including the Israel-Palestine conflict, nuclear tests and Venezuela.

Citing the build-up of military assets and lethal air-strikes in the Caribbean Sea, O'Donnell began discussions on Venezuela, asking if the US is going to war with the country.

"I doubt it. I don't think so," Trump said, before inserting a caveat.

"But they've been treating us very badly, not only on drugs; they've dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country that we didn't want, people from prisons – they emptied their prisons into our country. They also, if you take a look, they emptied their mental institutions and their insane asylums into the United States of America, 'cause Joe Biden was the worst president in the history of our country."

The US began its military build-up in the region in late August.

Among the assets are a guided missile destroyer, attack helicopters, a reconnaissance plane, stealth fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and some 10,000 troops operating in the Southern Caribbean with the world's largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald Ford, on its way to join them.

Officially, US authorities and Trump said this was about combating narco-terrorism. It has since killed some 60 people in at least nine separate air-strikes against vessels it claimed were smuggling drugs to the US.

O'Donnell asked Trump whether the operations were really about narco-trafficking or if it was about getting rid of Nicolas Maduro.

"No, this is about many things. This is a country that allowed their prisons to be emptied into our country. To me, that would be almost number one, because we have other countries..." Trump said.

He added, "Look, Mexico has been very bad to us in terms of drugs, OK? Very bad. We have a closed border right now. You probably noticed that for five months in a row, they have zero – think of this, zero people coming into our country through our southern border."

Given his sentiments, O'Donnell asked if Maduro's days were numbered, to which he said: "I would say, yeah. I think so, yeah."

Trump refused to reveal details on any land strikes against Venezuela, saying he would not reveal plans of any strike to a reporter.

"I mean, I'm not saying it's true or untrue, but you know, I wouldn't be inclined to say that I would do that. I don't talk to a reporter about whether or not I'm going to strike."

On Friday, a Miami Herald report, which has since been denied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump, said the US was preparing to strike land-based military targets in Venezuela.

Hours later, reports emerged that the TT Defence Force was put on state-one alert, its highest form of readiness, with soldiers being ordered to report to their bases. The news had sent much of the country into unease, with several businesses and schools closing early, fearing threats may have escalated to action.

An Express report quoted the Defence Minister Wayne Sturge saying the alert was a drill, stemming from joint training exercises with the US military earlier that week.

The Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer USS Gravely docked in Port-of-Spain on October 26 and left on October 30. Some welcomed the US troops training with the TT Defence Force, while others feared the optics of having the vessel in TT waters, given the ongoing military action and resulting tensions in the region.

Its presence led to condemnation from Caracas and protests against TT and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. The government has said the visit of the USS Gravely was consistent with long-standing collaboration between the countries, security improvement and humanitarian efforts.