US National Security Advisor John Bolton was photographed on Monday holding a notepad that included the handwritten line: "5,000 troops to Colombia."

Bolton spoke to White House reporters while holding the yellow notepad and discussing the crisis in Venezuela, where the US now recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim president.

It was not until after the briefing that observers spotted the black scrawl.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a US official said "we are not seeing anything that would support" a potential troop deployment to Colombia, which neighbors Venezuela.

The Pentagon referred a query back to the White House.