By Kanishka Singh and Akanksha Khushi
WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said the U.S. will maintain oversight of Venezuela “much longer” than a year and his own judgment is the only limit to his global power, according to a New York Times interview published on Thursday.
When asked by the Times if Washington’s oversight of Venezuela would be three months, six months, a year or longer, Trump said: “I would say much longer.”
“Only time will tell,” he added.
Trump ordered the U.S. military on Saturday to seize President Nicolas Maduro, who was brought to stand trial with his wife in New York.
The U.N. human rights office has said the operation a was a violation of international law that made the world less safe.
The newspaper quoted Trump as saying: “I don’t need international law.”
When asked by the newspaper if there were any limits on his global powers, Trump said: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
When pressed further, Trump said his administration needed to abide by international law, but the newspaper said he made clear he would be the arbiter when it applied.
“It depends what your definition of international law is,” he said, according to the newspaper.
The Republican president said the U.S. would rebuild Venezuela “in a very profitable way.”
“We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil. We’re getting oil prices down, and we’re going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need,” he said.
Trump added the U.S. was “getting along very well” with interim President Delcy Rodriguez’s government. “They’re giving us everything that we feel is necessary,” Trump said.
Trump on Tuesday unveiled a plan to refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil that had been stuck in Venezuela under U.S. blockade.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by David Goodman, Philippa Fletcher and Cynthia Osterman)
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