WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration had the legal authority to carry out strikes on vessels near Venezuela that it says are transporting drugs, but the administration may go back to Congress if it decides to start hitting targets on land.

“We’re allowed to do that, and if we do (it) by land, we may go back to Congress,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He said his government was “totally prepared” to start targeting alleged drug traffickers on land.

“We will hit them very hard if they come in by land,” he said. “We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we come to the land. We don’t have to do that, but I think … I’d like to do that.”

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Lesli

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