President Donald Trump was mum on recent developments with Venezuela on Sunday, even after he declared its airspace “closed” and spoke with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump spoke to the press aboard Air Force One a day after he said the airspace over and around Venezuela is now “closed in its entirety,” a major escalation in the United States’s pressure tactics on the regime.
However, Trump downplayed the move to reporters, saying “don’t read anything” into his statement.
He was similarly silent on any details about his phone call with Maduro, which reportedly happened two weeks ago.
“I wouldn’t say it went well, or badly. It was a phone call,” Trump said.
JUST IN: President Trump had a CALL with NICOLAS MADURO
“Yes…I wouldn’t say it went well, or badly. It was – a phone call.” pic.twitter.com/vGvfsJsSRK
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 30, 2025
HEGSETH’S REPORTED ‘KILL EVERYBODY’ ORDER IN DRUG BOAT STRIKE DRAWS SENATE SCRUTINY
Tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela have increased as the U.S. has amassed an armada in the Caribbean and has conducted strikes on alleged drug boats departing from Venezuela. Those strikes have recently received scrutiny after a report that War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a follow-up strike to kill two survivors of a September attack. Hegseth has denied the story, calling it “fabricated.”
The U.S. government also recently designated the “Cartel de los Soles,” a cartel linked to Maduro, as a foreign terrorist organization. The move gives the administration more ability to target the cartel with sanctions and block access to the U.S. banking system, though it doesn’t automatically authorize lethal military force.
