United States President Donald Trump has said he is not considering strikes within Venezuela, appearing to contradict his own comments earlier this month, amid a major US military build-up in the region.

The US has now deployed fighter jets, warships and thousands of troops to the Caribbean, with the world’s largest warship, aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford, on its way towards the Venezuelan coast .

When asked by reporters on board Air Force One on Friday if media reports that he was considering strikes within Venezuela were true, Trump answered: “No.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered the same message as he responded to an article in the Miami Herald that said Washington’s forces were poised to hit Venezuela.

“Your ‘sources’ claiming to have ‘knowledge of the situation’

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