<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>US President </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/donald-trump" rel="" target="" title="Donald Trump"><span>Donald Trump</span></a><span> will hold a meeting at the White House on Monday evening about next steps on Venezuela, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, as the administration intensifies its pressure campaign on the country and questions mount about whether the military is exceeding its lawful authority.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Key members of Trump's Cabinet and national security team, including Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to attend, as well as White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The meeting, which is expected to take place at 5 p.m. ET (9am AEDT) in the Oval Office, comes as the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="_blank" title="United States"><span>United States</span></a><span> has increased pressure on Venezuela with strikes on drug vessels and a military asset buildup in the Caribbean.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-willing-to-release-mri-results-but-no-idea-which-part-of-body-it-examined/480a3a41-765b-47bc-87e6-7937ab789537" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Trump willing to release MRI results, but 'no idea' which part of body it examined</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The US military has amassed more than a dozen warships and 15,000 troops in the region as part of what the Pentagon has branded "Operation Southern Spear." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump was "meeting with his national security team on this subject and on many matters," adding, "It's part of his responsibility to ensure that peace is ongoing throughout the world."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The meeting also comes as Trump and his top military officials are facing growing questions about the legality of the US strikes on alleged drug boats in the region killing more than 80 people.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The US is not officially in a war with Venezuela, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have said they plan to examine reports that the US carried out a follow-up strike on a suspected drug vessel after an initial attack did not kill everyone on board.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-news-usa-venezuela-oval-office-meeting-amid-growing-questions-about-his-military-moves/11240690-4124-4eeb-91a4-f623fe5a9ab9" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The law is clear," Maine Senator Angus King, an independent, told CNN on Monday morning. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"If the facts are, as have been alleged, that there was a second strike specifically to kill the survivors in the water — that's a stone-cold war crime. It's also murder."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>On Monday, Leavitt identified the official who ordered the follow-up strike – Admiral Frank M. "Mitch" Bradley, commander of the US Special Operations Command – and said he was acting "well within his authority."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/luigi-mangione-in-court-seeks-to-have-key-evidence-thrown-out/8a35bb42-d069-42a8-8634-cded59842fdb" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Luigi Mangione appears in court as his lawyers seek to exclude key evidence</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"On September 2, Secretary Hegseth authorised Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated," Leavitt said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Pressed on the legal justification for the strike, Leavitt said it was "conducted in self-defence to protect Americans" and was carried out "in international waters and in accordance with the law of armed conflict."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump told reporters that he personally would not have wanted a second strike and seemed to cast doubt on the idea Hegseth had ordered it.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"No. 1, I don't know that that happened, and Pete said he did not want them — he didn't even know what people were talking about," Trump told reporters on Air Force One. "So, we'll look into it, but no, I wouldn't have wanted that, not a second strike."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>King, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Congress would seek to interview "people up and down the chain of command."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/zone-rv-caravan-company-enters-administration/5df3f233-9c01-46db-af56-b7dd0f29d42b" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Leading Australian caravan maker collapses, 250 jobs at risk</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The question is, what order did the Secretary of Defence give and how was that executed? And we're going to be talking to people, as I say, all the way up, up to the top of the chain of command and down to the people that actually triggered that attack," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Leavitt said Hegseth had spoken with lawmakers who expressed concerns, but she did not specify which ones. She generally defended the amount of information the administration has shared with Congress about the escalating campaign.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"There have also been 13 bipartisan briefings to Congress on the Venezuelan strikes. There have been a number of document reviews for members of Congress to review the classified DOJ Office of Legal Counsel opinion and other related documents," Leavitt said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And the administration has shown no signs of slowing its activity in the region. The president said last week that the US would be stopping Venezuelan drug trafficking by land, in addition to sea, "very soon."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Over the weekend, the president issued a broad directive on social media, warning airlines, pilots and criminal networks to avoid Venezuelan airspace. He told reporters not to read into the announcement.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/weather-report-extreme-heat-perth-very-cold-melbourne/f0bae817-accf-4751-83a5-b79ec033054c" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Weather whiplash as cities swelter, freeze on first day of summer</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump also confirmed he had spoken with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the phone, but didn't address what was discussed. The administration last week formally designated Maduro and allies of his government as members of a foreign terrorist organisation, a move officials argue will give the US expanded military options for striking inside Venezuela.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>GOP Representative Maria Salazar, meanwhile, said she felt Trump's announcement that he planned to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, effectively erasing a major US drug-trafficking conviction, sent a mixed message as the administration escalated its campaign against Maduro.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I would have never done that," the Florida Republican told CNN's Dana Bash.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Leavitt on Monday defended the move, arguing that the former Honduran president's US drug-trafficking conviction was a result of Biden-era "over-prosecution."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"President Trump has been quite clear in his defence of the United States homeland, to stop these illegal narcotics from coming to our borders, whether that's by land or by sea," Leavitt said. "He's also made it quite clear that he wants to correct the wrongs of the weaponised Justice Department under the previous administration."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727"><em><strong><span>Apple App Store</span></strong></em></a><span> </span><em><strong><span>and</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1"><em><strong><span>Google Play</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>.</span></strong></em></div></div>