U.S. warship docks in Trinidad and Tobago as tensions escalate with Venezuela

A U.S. warship has docked in Trinidad and Tobago. This is a neighboring country to Venezuela. The Trump administration is ramping up military pressure in the region, striking 10 alleged drug boats since September. On Face the Nation yesterday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said, land strikes in Venezuela are a real possibility. Listen. President Trump told me yesterday that he plans to brief members of Congress when he gets back from Asia about future potential military operations against Venezuela and Colombia. So there will be a congressional briefing about a potential expanding from the sea to the land. CBS News correspondent Natalie Brand joins us from the White House with more on this. Good morning, Natalie. What more do we know about this U.S. warship in the Caribbean and how the Venezuelan president is viewing it? Yeah, this is a significant escalation in what was already a major military buildup by U.S. forces off the coast of Venezuela. This latest warship to deploy, the USS Gravely, now docked in the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. Both countries saying that it is there for the next few days for joint training exercises. But this comes on top of the deployment of the Navy's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald, board to the region. A Pentagon spokesperson says the enhanced U.S. force presence will, quote, bolster U.S. capacity to deter, detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors in the president's directive to counter narco-terrorism. But Venezuela and President Maduro accused the U.S. government of trying to fabricate a, quote, new eternal war against his country. Now, as we've been reporting, the Trump administration considers the Maduro regime illegitimate, accuses them of being aligned with narco-terrorism. One U.S. senator who's been supportive of the administration holding Maduro accountable is Senator Rick Scott of Florida. He spoke to CBS's 60 Minutes. Take a listen. If I was Maduro, I'd head to Russia or China right now. Because? His days are numbered. Something's gonna happen. Whether it's internal or external, I think something's gonna happen. Now, White House Press Secretary Caroline Lovett was asked in her most recent press briefing, is regime change on the president's mind? And she said that she didn't want to get ahead of him, but again, reiterated that the administration will not tolerate what it calls narco-terrorist trafficking drugs into the U.S. As for these ongoing strikes that we've seen on alleged drug boats, Democratic lawmakers, even some Republicans, continue to say they need more information. Democrats condemning these strikes. And Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona, on one of the Sunday shows over the weekend, even called the strikes, quote, murder, Errol. All right, Natalie Brand with the latest. Thank you, Natalie. Argentina's Libertarian President, Javier Milley, led his party to a crucial victory in that country's midterm elections. His party won more than 40% of the vote. That gives Milley enough legislative support to prevent his vetoes from being overturned. Milley is an ally of President Trump and helped secure a $40 billion bailout package for Argentina from U.S. taxpayers. Mr. Trump congratulated Milley on social media, calling him a, quote, wonderful Trump-endorsed candidate.