President Donald Trump claimed he authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to operate inside Venezuela to curb the flow of undocumented immigrants and drug trafficking from the South American country, but did not specify whether the agency would have the authority to target President Nicolás Maduro.

These statements constitute Trump’s most extensive explanation yet of his decision to expand the CIA’s authority to carry out lethal operations and covert actions in the region.

According to government sources, Trump updated the CIA’s powers around the same time he signed a secret directive ordering the military to attack Latin American drug cartels earlier this summer.

The president linked the authorization to his efforts to combat drug smuggling.

“We have a lot of drugs coming fro

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