WATCH: Trump says Venezuelan boat strikes are ‘saving tremendous amounts of lives’

President Donald Trump justified U.S. strikes on boats that are suspected of carrying drugs off the coast of Venezuela.

Trump was responding to questions from reporters during a Wednesday appearance in the Oval Office with FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi and other administration officials. One reporter asked why strikes were used, as opposed to the U.S. Coast Guard stopping the boats.

“We've been doing that for 30 years, and it has been totally ineffective,” Trump said. “They have faster boats. Some of these boats are seriously, I mean– they're world class speedboats, but they're not faster than missiles.”

“We've almost totally stopped it by sea. Now, we'll stop it by land,” the president said, adding “It never worked when you did it in a very politically correct manner.”

The questions came one day after the president posted on his Truth Social account that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a “lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking” in part of the waters that are under the responsibility of U.S. Southern Command. Trump said the strike killed six “male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel.”

Trump was then asked whether the U.S. was now considering land strikes.

“I don't want to tell you exactly, but we are certainly looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control. We've had a couple of days where there isn't a boat to be found,” the president said. “I view that as a good thing, not a bad thing.”

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