The new president of the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly Diosdado Cabello (C) attends a meeting with members of the assembly commissions in Caracas | Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images Donald Trump asked if he could invade Venezuela US president reportedly asked why using the military wasn’t a way to deal with the South American country.

Why can't the U.S. just invade Venezuela? That was what U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly asked aides after being briefed on the troubled Latin American country.

According to the Associated Press on Wednesday, Trump had a meeting in the Oval Office last August to discuss sanctions on Venezuela with, among others, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster — both now former members of the administration. They were, according to the AP report, "stunned" by the president's suggestion, which led to McMaster and others explaining how military action could backfire and risk losing support among Latin American governments.

Although Trump didn't actually say he planned to get the military involved, he did bring up the successful use of troops against Panama and Grenada in the 1980s, according to AP.

The next day, August 11 2017, Trump made public comments about the use of a “military option” in Venezuela.

“We are all over the world and we have troops all over the world in places that are very, very far away,” the president said. “Venezuela is not very far away and the people are suffering, and they are dying. We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option if necessary.”

Speaking at dinner with Latin America leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in September, Trump said the “growing crisis” in Venezuela was unacceptable and that the U.S. was ready to take further action to ensure democracy was restored.

“The Venezuelan people are starving,” Trump said. “The country is collapsing, their democratic institutions are being destroyed.”

Trump called the situation “totally unacceptable.”