The U.S. has never been closer to armed conflict with Venezuela, with a fully loaded U.S. flotilla sitting off its coast and dictator Nicolás Maduro living under a $50 million bounty.

The intrigue: Even close Trump advisers aren't entirely sure whether the gunboat diplomacy is a drug trafficking operation with undertones of regime change, or a Caracas coup operation masquerading as drug enforcement.

Driving the news: President Trump ordered seven warships carrying 4,500 personnel — including three guided-missile destroyers and at least one attack submarine — to the waters off Venezuela. • Officially, they're there to combat drug trafficking. But Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt leaned into the ambiguity of the mission on Thursday, noting that the U.S. considers Maduro the "fugitive hea

See Full Page