'They'll Be Shot Down': Trump Moves F-35s to Puerto Rico, Warns Venezuela He's Not Messing Around
President Donald Trump is adding even more muscle to America’s battle against drug cartels and nations that support them.
The U.S. is sending 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico where they will be available for use in operations targeting drug cartels or Venezuelan fighter jets, according to CBS.
The action came as tensions between the United States and Venezuela rise after two military interactions this week.
On Tuesday, an airstrike destroyed a boat Trump said was carrying drugs. 11 people on the boat were killed.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Mexico City on Wednesday, said the incident showed the U.S. will not stop at half-measures.”
“The US has long, for many, many years, established intelligence that allowed us to interdict and stop drug boats. And we did that. And it doesn’t work. Interdiction doesn’t work,” he said.
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump just released the video of the U.S. military STRIKING a drug boat from Venezuela heading to America carrying ELEVEN Tren de Aragua narcoterrorists, who were kiIIed in the strike
TRUMP: “Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces… pic.twitter.com/axQAWxjJhm
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 2, 2025
“What will stop them is when you blow them up,” he said.
Referring to the destruction of the drug-running boat, he added, “Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up. And it’ll happen again. Maybe it’s happening right now.”
On Thursday, U.S. officials said Venezuelan fighter jets made an aggressive maneuver near an American warship off the coast of Venezuela.
Trump said U.S. forces have full authorization to down jets if necessary, according to Reuters.
“If they do put us in a dangerous position, they’ll be shot down,” he said.
A report in The New York Times said the F-35s were moved to “deter more Venezuelan flyovers.”
CBS noted that last month three Aegis guided-missile destroyers — the USS Gravely, the USS Jason Dunham and the USS Sampson — were sent to international waters off the coast of Venezuela.
As noted by the Times, Trump signed an order in July that gave the military the green light to attack drug cartels labeled foreign terrorist organizations under U.S. law.
The Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, which includes the USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima and USS Fort Lauderdale, is also near Puerto Rico. The Iwo Jima group has about 4,500 sailors.
The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, with its 2,200 Marines, is also in the vicinity of Puerto Rico.
Asked about the flexing of American military muscle, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was “prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It is a narco-terror cartel.”
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