- Donald Trump has reportedly told his allies he wants a “drug lord hit list.”
- His thinking is based on the 2019 raid to kill ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
- However, his campaign spokesman dismissed the report as “fake news.”
Donald Trump is considering sending special operations teams to Mexico to kill the heads of drug cartels if he retakes the White House in November, according to a new report citing three sources familiar with his thinking.
During his four years as president, he wondered whether it would be possible to launch missile attacks on cartel operations.
And with the threat of drugs smuggled across the southern border only increasing since then, he is now publicly campaigning on a platform that includes using covert means to hurt the gangs responsible.
Trump is said to be basing his thinking on the successful 2019 military strike he ordered to kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
But this approach would risk angering the Mexican government.
Members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) pose for a photo at an undisclosed location in the state of Michoacan, Mexico
Former President Donald Trump leaves court on Tuesday. He plans to use the military against Mexican cartels if he wins the November elections
One of the sources said this Rolling stone that the former president said the US government should have a “death list of drug lords” who could be captured or killed during his second term.
In a conversation, Trump emphasized that the US military has “killers heavier than them” and questioned why assassination missions had been launched before.
Trump’s campaign spokesman dismissed the report.
“This is nothing more than fake news from Rolling Stone, who spoke to cowardly, unnamed sources who either have no idea what they are talking about or are completely making up what will happen in a second Trump administration,” said Steven Cheung .
“Let’s be very specific here: Unless a message comes directly from President Trump or an authorized member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be considered official.”
Still, the agreements with allies (including a lawmaker) appear to reflect Trump’s public position outlining how he would use military means to address the problem.
“Deploy all necessary military resources, including the US Navy, to impose a full naval embargo on the cartels, to ensure that they cannot use the waters of our region to smuggle illegal drugs into the US his campaign website says.
“Direct the Department of Defense to appropriately use special forces, cyberwarfare, and other covert and overt actions to inflict maximum damage on the cartel’s leadership, infrastructure, and operations.”
Mexican officials are pictured dismantling a clandestine drug laboratory in Sinaloa, Mexico in June 2019
A Mexican officer stands guard over the makeshift laboratory in El Dorado, Sinaloa. Trump wanted to launch missiles into Mexico to take out the labs, and then deny that the US was responsible
During his time in office, Trump has considered taking extraordinary measures. They were described by Mark Esper, his second Secretary of Defense, in his memoirs.
In the summer of 2020, the president asked him twice if the military could “launch missiles into Mexico to destroy the drug labs” because the Mexican government had “no control over their own country.”
Trump responded when Esper pointed out the legal and diplomatic problems with shooting a friendly neighbor
“No one would know it was us,” Trump reportedly told him.
The ideas were ridiculed at the time, but some have become mainstream Republican thinking.
Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who ran against Trump for the Republican nomination, vowed to send special forces to Mexico “on day one” if he were elected.