The president bragged that the U.S. is planning military action against another country, and suggested it could begin “soon.”
Dana Bash, CNN’s chief political correspondent, told the network’s News Central that she had a five-minute phone call with President Donald Trump about the war in Iran in which the president “quickly turned to Cuba” unprompted.
“He said that the U.S. is doing very well militarily, quote, ‘better than anybody could have dreamed.’ He said that he rebuilt the military in his first term. He’s using it in his second,” Bash said.
“And then he quickly turned to Cuba. He said, without being asked, ‘Cuba is going to fall pretty soon, by the way, that Cuba is going to fall. They want to make a deal so badly.’”
Trump added that he is sending Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the communist regime to “see how that works out.”
“We’re really focused on this one right now. We’ve got plenty of time, but Cuba’s ready—after 50 years,” Trump said, according to CNN’s write-up of the phone call with Bash.
“I’ve been watching it for 50 years, and it’s fallen right into my lap because of me. It’s fallen, but it’s nevertheless fallen right into the lap. And we’re doing very well,” the 79-year-old added.
The so-called “Peace President” Trump has dropped other suggestions that the U.S. could force regime change in Cuba, once the war in Iran, which has no real end in sight, is over.
“What’s happening with Cuba is amazing,” Trump said Thursday at a White House event congratulating Major League Soccer champions Inter Miami.
“We think that we want to finish this one first, but that will be just a question of time before you and a lot of unbelievable people are going to be going back to Cuba, hopefully not to stay.”
Also on Thursday, the president suggested that his administration had helped bring about Cuba’s worsening economic crisis after the country was placed under a strict oil and fuel squeeze by the Trump administration following the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
“We cut off all oil, all money—or we cut off everything coming in from Venezuela, which was the sole source. And they want to make a deal,” he told Politico.
Elsewhere during his conversation with Bash, Trump said he is not concerned that the war in the Middle East will cause a sharp rise in gas prices in the United States.
“I asked about rising gas prices, and he said, ‘That’s all right. It’ll be short-term. It’ll go way down very quickly.’ And I said, ‘Well, they’re pretty high now.’ And he said, ‘No, they’re not,’”
Bash added that Trump told her gas prices are “up a little bit, not much, but it’ll drop to record lows.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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