President Donald Trump announced a crackdown on South American narcotics operations Tuesday, saying his administration would not allow drug cartels to capitalize on the coronavirus to bring more illicit drugs into the United States.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley announced at the Wednesday press briefing that the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard partnered with domestic lawn enforcement groups to deploy into the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea to take action against drug traffickers. Attorney General Bill Barr was also present and said Trump’s action granted new enforcement authorities to stop suspected trafficking vessels.
“The Navy has marshaled additional ships,” General Milley said. “They have set sail already and are in the Caribbean right now.” (RELATED: Improbable, But Not Impossible: Could Andrew Cuomo Walk Away From A Brokered Convention With The Democratic Nomination?)
“You’re not gonna get through,” he said directly to the cartels. “Now is not the time to try to penetrate the United States to kill Americans.”
Navy crew members stand on deck of the USS Blue Ridge during a port call on April 20, 2019 in Hong Kong, China. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)
Trump made the announcements at the outset of the briefing before turning back to address the coronavirus pandemic. Trump’s coronavirus task force has held press briefings on a near-daily basis since late February. (RELATED: Country Music Icon Joe Diffie Dies At The Age Of 61 Due To Coronavirus Complications)
Wednesday’s briefing came hours after reports that China had falsified their public numbers on coronavirus cases and deaths in the country. Western nations had long suspected the Chinese Communist Party of misleading the world, but this is the first time the U.S. intelligence community weighed in on the issue.
Trump denied seeing the report, however, saying he wasn’t sure whether China had intentionally falsifying reports.