Trump says he told Bukele ‘you have to do what you have to do’ on Haiti

Donald Trump’s advice to a president sending troops into Haiti fits in nine words, and he said them twice.

At his Mar-a-Lago Halloween party gaggle on Saturday, a reporter asked if he’d spoken to Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president, about Haiti. “I did,” Trump said. Bukele, he said, “has a big problem with Haiti,” and Trump told him: “Look, you’re running your country. You have to do what you have to do.” Then he said it again, adding, “They killed some of his people.” Asked whether the U.S. would help, Trump said Bukele didn’t need it: “He’s in pretty good shape.”

“They killed” is Trump’s version. Four Salvadoran aviation technicians were ambushed in Haiti on Oct. 18 and are still officially missing; El Salvador is sending about 2,000 troops to find them. When bodies were handed over in Haiti, Bukele himself said they weren’t his missing men. Trump didn’t say where his information came from.

Axios reported the call on Friday: according to its sources briefed on the call, Trump told Bukele to “do what you have to do.” On Saturday Trump confirmed it on camera, between costumes.