Trump Blasts Mexico's Sheinbaum For Rejecting Offer To Send Us Troops Into Mexico To Fight Cartels

President Donald Trump on Sunday said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected his proposal to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help thwart the illegal drug trade because she is fearful of the country's powerful cartels.

The comments by Trump came a day after Sheinbaum confirmed that Trump pressed her in a call last month to accept a bigger role for the U.S. military in combating drug cartels in Mexico.

Trump said it was "true" that he proposed sending the troops to Mexico and lashed into Sheinbaum for dismissing the idea.

"Well she's so afraid of the cartels she can't walk, so you know that's the reason," Trump said in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. "And I think she's a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can't even think straight."

The U.S. military presence along the southern border with Mexico has increased steadily in recent months, following Trump's order in January to increase the army's role in stemming the flow of migrants.