Trump Official Confirms U.S. Will Put 'a 'Tremendous Amount Of Pressure' On Maduro To Force Him Out: 'He's Weak'

Trump administration officials confirmed that they are seeking to put increasing amounts of pressure on Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro to eventually force him out of power, according to a new report.

Speaking to Politico, an official said "everyone" would like Maduro to go. "We're going to put a tremendous amount of pressure on him. He's weak. It's quite possible that he'll fall from this pressure alone without us having to do anything" the official added.

The outlet went on to detail that Trump's team does not seem to rule escalating matters further, moving from striking boats off the coast of Venezuela to targets inside the country. It noted that Trump has different plans before him, including airstrikes on Venezuelan territory, but so far he has not ordered to aim at Maduro directly.

However, another person familiar with the discussions noted that if maduro is considered a drug cartel leader and a terrorist, including having a $50 million bounty on his head, he could be a fair target: "Don't we go after indicted narco traffickers and terrorists all the time?"

Another report claimed that Maduro won't relinquish power voluntarily despite increased pressure. Speaking to Spanish outlet El Pais, one people with knowledge of the regime's thinking said "Maduro is not going anywhere." "Maduro has practically no other fate than resisting whatever comes and waiting for Trump to hesitate," the person added.

The report added, the South American country's leaders (Delcy and Jorge Rodriguez, Diosdado Cabello and Vladimir Padrino Lopez), along with Maduro, have "developed their survival instincts to the fullest after more than six years of governing in extreme situations," and think "this storm shall pass too."

Concretely, they believe that the cost of an armed clash would be too high for the U.S. and Trump will back down before getting to that point. In the meantime, they remain defiant. Diosdado Cabello said during the weekend that "they have no idea who they're facing, we'll eat them alive."