U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday (May 4) confirmed he had offered to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum combat drug trafficking, an offer Sheinbaum disclosed on Saturday and said she had refused.

Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida, said he had made the offer because the drug cartels were "horrible people" who had caused thousands of deaths.

Asked if he was disappointed that Sheinbaum had turned down the offer, Trump said, "The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can't even think straight."

Sheinbaum on Saturday said she had rejected Trump's offer because "sovereignty is not for sale." Her comments came in response to questions about a Wall Street Journal report published on May 2 that said Trump was pressuring Mexico to allow deeper U.S. military involvement against drug cartels to combat trafficking across the shared border.

Sheinbaum said the two countries could collaborate, but Mexico would "never accept the presence of the United States military in our territory."

(Production: Livi Empson)