After U.S. military personnel boarded an oil tanker and took control of it in the Caribbean Sea, seizing its contents, questions about the offensive against Venezuela were quick to arise.

Despite the questioning specifically about the interest in Venezuelan oil, Donald Trump assured that his Administration's current pressure campaign on Venezuela “is about many things,” and again, he pointed to issues such as immigration and drug trafficking.

“It’s about many things,” Trump responded when asked in the Oval Office whether the current military deployment in the Caribbean is “about drug trafficking or about oil,” referring to the Venezuelan oil tanker that Washington seized.

The Republican avoided directly addressing the issue of oil, a factor highlighted by critics of the pressure campaign on Caracas, a strategy many believe is solely aimed at removing Nicolas Maduro’s government from power.

“One of them is the fact that they have allowed millions of people to enter our country, including prisoners, drug traffickers, and people from mental institutions, probably in a higher proportion than any other country,” Trump explained, using an argument he has repeated numerous times this year but has never countered with data.

The Republican also once again alleged that the top levels of the Venezuelan government and military are involved in sending drugs to The US highlighted that military operations to destroy alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific have reduced drug trafficking on those routes by 92%. “Anyone who gets involved in that right now is not going to fare well,” Trump noted, reiterating that “ground” attacks on groups that Washington claims are involved in drug trafficking “are being implemented.” “They’ve treated us badly, and I guess now we’re not treating them too well,” the New York tycoon concluded.