Trump says he could have faced Carter's fate if Venezuela attack failed

US President Donald Trump told the New York Times in an interview that his presidency could have been doomed if a daring US attack to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had failed.

Citing a failed bid by Democratic President Jimmy Carter to rescue US hostages in Iran on April 24, 1980, Trump said failure in Venezuela could have meant a “Jimmy Carter disaster. That destroyed his entire administration.”

That mission, aimed at freeing 52 American hostages seized at the US embassy in Tehran, failed when a US helicopter crashed into an aircraft, killing 8 soldiers.

“I don’t know that he would have won the election,” Trump said. “but he certainly had no chance after that disaster.”