2023, North Carolina, Trump @ Republican Convention, on Venezuela: "We would have gotten all that oil."

Ret. Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling is among those who have been critical of the Trump administration's decisions surrounding Venezuela. Trump declared he plans to have the U.S. take control over the country, as opposed to letting the nation's constitution do its job, and didn't rule out having U.S. boots on the ground.

Trump's reasoning for the mission has publicly been connected to drug trafficking allegations, but a video being shared from a GOP convention in North Carolina shows Trump previously had other motives on mind.

"How about we're buying oil from Venezuela? When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse," Trump said in 2023 at the North Carolina Republican Convention. "We would have taken it over. We would have gotten all that oil. It would have been right next door. But now, we're buying oil from Venezuela. So, we're making a dictator very rich. Can you believe this? Nobody can believe it."

A popular influencer known as Not The Torygraph posted the video, and wrote that, "Trump’s admitting that it’s all about capturing Venezuelan oil."

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-resurfaced-video-venezuela/