President Donald Trump defended the lethal U.S. strike on a Venezuelan vessel Tuesday, insisting he has to "protect our country."

Trump pushed back when a reporter asked why the U.S. carried out a lethal strike on the Venezuelan drug-carrying vessel Tuesday instead of interdicting it and capturing the alleged smugglers.

The president said the strike would lead to drug smugglers thinking twice about trying to move drugs into the United States.

“There was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people, and, everybody fully understands that,” Trump said.

He added, “Obviously, they won't be doing it again. And I think a lot of other people won't be doing it again. When they watch that tape, they're going to say, ‘Let's not do this.’