WASHINGTON
\nRepublican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are reacting to President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement of the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a \u201clarge-scale strike\u201d against Venezuela.
\nThe two are in U.S. custody in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, and charged with \u201cnarco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the U.S.,\u201d according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
\nU.S. Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican, praised Trump\u2019s decision-making and called Maduro an illegitimate dictator. He said the Venezuelan leader was running a \u201cvast drug-trafficking operation. \u201cCotton also said he was briefed on Maduro\u2019s capture by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
\n\u201cThe interim government in Venezuela must now decide whether to continue the drug trafficking and colluding with adversaries like Iran and Cuba or whether to act like a normal nation and return to the civilized world,\u201d Cotton said. \u201cI urge them to choose wisely.\u201d
\nSimilarly, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, also a Republican, said she fully supports Trump\u2019s actions in Venezuela. \u201cNicolas Maduro will face justice on American soil,\u201d Blackburn said. \u201cI fully support the Trump administration for doing what is needed to protect American lives.\u201d
\nThe House Republican Chairperson, Republican Congresswoman Lisa McClain, also emphatically backed President Trump\u2019s decision-making in a post on social media. \u201cPresident Trump has cracked down on drug trafficking harder than any President in history,\u201d Ms. McClain wrote. \u201cMaduro is a narco-terrorist.
\nPeriod. His illegitimate regime floods our country with deadly drugs and Americans pay the price. President Trump didn\u2019t look the other way; he acted. That\u2019s what leadership looks like, and it\u2019s how you protect the American people.\u201d
\nThere were some voices of dissent from the Republicans, however. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican,, who had a high-profile break with Trump and who is set to depart Congress this month, questioned the administration\u2019s focus on Venezuela. She pointed to the outsized role of Mexican cartels in bringing illicit drugs into the U.S. and Trump\u2019s pardoning of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted in a drug trafficking case.
\n\u201cAmericans [sic] disgust with our own government\u2019s never ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it and both parties, Republicans and Democrats, always keep the Washington military machine funded and going,\u201d Greene said in a statement on X. \u201cThis is what many in MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong.\u201d On their part, Democratic leaders denounced Trump\u2019s military operation in Venezuela as unauthorized. They uniformly condemned the attack and criticized the administration\u2019s lack of plans following Maduro\u2019s ouster, demanded answers. House Democrats scheduled an emergency virtual caucus meeting for Sunday afternoon.US Republicans largely defend Trump\u2019s action in Venezuela
\nDNA
\nWASHINGTON
\nRepublican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are reacting to President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement of the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a \u201clarge-scale strike\u201d against Venezuela.
\nThe two are in U.S. custody in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, and charged with \u201cnarco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the U.S.,\u201d according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
\nU.S. Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican, praised Trump\u2019s decision-making and called Maduro an illegitimate dictator. He said the Venezuelan leader was running a \u201cvast drug-trafficking operation. \u201cCotton also said he was briefed on Maduro\u2019s capture by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
\n\u201cThe interim government in Venezuela must now decide whether to continue the drug trafficking and colluding with adversaries like Iran and Cuba or whether to act like a normal nation and return to the civilized world,\u201d Cotton said. \u201cI urge them to choose wisely.\u201d
\nSimilarly, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, also a Republican, said she fully supports Trump\u2019s actions in Venezuela. \u201cNicolas Maduro will face justice on American soil,\u201d Blackburn said. \u201cI fully support the Trump administration for doing what is needed to protect American lives.\u201d
\nThe House Republican Chairperson, Republican Congresswoman Lisa McClain, also emphatically backed President Trump\u2019s decision-making in a post on social media. \u201cPresident Trump has cracked down on drug trafficking harder than any President in history,\u201d Ms. McClain wrote. \u201cMaduro is a narco-terrorist.
\nPeriod. His illegitimate regime floods our country with deadly drugs and Americans pay the price. President Trump didn\u2019t look the other way; he acted. That\u2019s what leadership looks like, and it\u2019s how you protect the American people.\u201d
\nThere were some voices of dissent from the Republicans, however. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican,, who had a high-profile break with Trump and who is set to depart Congress this month, questioned the administration\u2019s focus on Venezuela. She pointed to the outsized role of Mexican cartels in bringing illicit drugs into the U.S. and Trump\u2019s pardoning of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted in a drug trafficking case.
\n\u201cAmericans [sic] disgust with our own government\u2019s never ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it and both parties, Republicans and Democrats, always keep the Washington military machine funded and going,\u201d Greene said in a statement on X. \u201cThis is what many in MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong.\u201d On their part, Democratic leaders denounced Trump\u2019s military operation in Venezuela as unauthorized. They uniformly condemned the attack and criticized the administration\u2019s lack of plans following Maduro\u2019s ouster, demanded answers. House Democrats scheduled an emergency virtual caucus meeting for Sunday afternoon.
\n\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s unauthorized military attack on Venezuela to arrest Maduro \u2014 however terrible he is \u2014 is a sickening return to a day when the United States asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere,\u201d said Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, in a statement.
\n\u201cThat history is replete with failures, and doubling down on it makes it difficult to make the claim with a straight face that other countries should respect the United States\u2019 sovereignty when we do not do the same,\u201d he said.
\nKaine, who is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called on Congress to \u201creassert its critical constitutional role\u201d in foreign policy matters and said his resolution to curtail the administration\u2019s hostilities against Venezuela without congressional authority will be up for a vote next week.
\nPresident Donald Trump announced the strikes early on Saturday and said that Maduro and his wife are in U.S. custody. The attack marks a huge escalation of Trump\u2019s hostilities toward the Venezuelan government and raises questions about the legal justification for the operation. Several Democrats also called out Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who they said had told Congress that the administration did not intend to impose regime change in Venezuela.
\nSenate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Saturday he was \u201cshocked\u201d by the developments, especially after Trump administration officials assured him last month they were not seeking a regime change in Venezuela. He called the Trump administration\u2019s failure to notify Congress \u201can excuse for secrecy\u201d and \u201coutrageous and dangerous.\u201d
\nHouse Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement lambasting Trump and his top officials for not seeking congressional approval for the use of military force. And in a joint statement, Schumer and Jeffries called on the Trump administration to provide an immediate briefing to top Democratic and GOP leaders in the House and Senate.
\n\u201cMaduro is an illegitimate ruler, but I have seen no evidence that his presidency poses a threat that would justify military action without Congressional authorization, nor have I heard a strategy for the day after and how we will prevent Venezuela from descending into chaos,\u201d said Congressman Jim Himes, a Democrat, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
\n\u201cSecretary Rubio repeatedly denied to Congress that the Administration intended to force regime change in Venezuela. The Administration must immediately brief Congress on its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.\u201d
\nDemocratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the attack \u201cis entirely inconsistent with what his cabinet repeatedly briefed to Congress\u201d and is counter to what the American public wants.
\n\u201cBecause the President and his Cabinet repeatedly denied any intention of conducting regime change in Venezuela when briefing Congress, we are left with no understanding of how the Administration is preparing to mitigate risks to the U.S. and we have no information regarding a long-term strategy following today\u2019s extraordinary escalation,\u201d Shaheen said.
\n\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s unauthorized military attack on Venezuela to arrest Maduro \u2014 however terrible he is \u2014 is a sickening return to a day when the United States asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere,\u201d said Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, in a statement.
\n\u201cThat history is replete with failures, and doubling down on it makes it difficult to make the claim with a straight face that other countries should respect the United States\u2019 sovereignty when we do not do the same,\u201d he said.
\nKaine, who is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called on Congress to \u201creassert its critical constitutional role\u201d in foreign policy matters and said his resolution to curtail the administration\u2019s hostilities against Venezuela without congressional authority will be up for a vote next week.
\nPresident Donald Trump announced the strikes early on Saturday and said that Maduro and his wife are in U.S. custody. The attack marks a huge escalation of Trump\u2019s hostilities toward the Venezuelan government and raises questions about the legal justification for the operation. Several Democrats also called out Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who they said had told Congress that the administration did not intend to impose regime change in Venezuela.
\nSenate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Saturday he was \u201cshocked\u201d by the developments, especially after Trump administration officials assured him last month they were not seeking a regime change in Venezuela. He called the Trump administration\u2019s failure to notify Congress \u201can excuse for secrecy\u201d and \u201coutrageous and dangerous.\u201d
\nHouse Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement lambasting Trump and his top officials for not seeking congressional approval for the use of military force. And in a joint statement, Schumer and Jeffries called on the Trump administration to provide an immediate briefing to top Democratic and GOP leaders in the House and Senate.
\n\u201cMaduro is an illegitimate ruler, but I have seen no evidence that his presidency poses a threat that would justify military action without Congressional authorization, nor have I heard a strategy for the day after and how we will prevent Venezuela from descending into chaos,\u201d said Congressman Jim Himes, a Democrat, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
\n\u201cSecretary Rubio repeatedly denied to Congress that the Administration intended to force regime change in Venezuela. The Administration must immediately brief Congress on its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.\u201d
\nDemocratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the attack \u201cis entirely inconsistent with what his cabinet repeatedly briefed to Congress\u201d and is counter to what the American public wants.
\n\u201cBecause the President and his Cabinet repeatedly denied any intention of conducting regime change in Venezuela when briefing Congress, we are left with no understanding of how the Administration is preparing to mitigate risks to the U.S. and we have no information regarding a long-term strategy following today\u2019s extraordinary escalation,\u201d Shaheen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are reacting to President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement of the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a \u201clarge-scale strike\u201d against Venezuela. The two are in U.S. custody in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, and charged with \u201cnarco-terrorism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-523840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n