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The CIA’s operations abroad are usually shrouded in secrecy, but President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had authorized the spy agency to take unspecified action in Venezuela, an extraordinary and unprecedented acknowledgement from a commander in chief.

“Why did you authorize the CIA to go into Venezuela?” a reporter asked Trump at the White House.

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“I authorized for two reasons, really,” Trump said. “Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America."

The second reason, the president said, was narcotics trafficking.

“And the other thing are drugs. We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela,” Trump said.

The president’s highly unusual remarks

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