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US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has rejected claims his administration is seeking to topple Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, even as Washington escalates military operations off the South American country’s coast, increases the bounty on Maduro’s head to US$50 million, and intensifies rhetoric against his leadership.

“We’re not talking about that,” Trump told reporters on September 5, when asked if the US build-up in the southern Caribbean was aimed at regime change.

“That” referred to the ouster of Maduro, a goal Trump openly pursued during his first term. Instead, he insisted the deployments were designed to crack down on cartels smuggling drugs into the US.