Donald Trump has revealed he kept his Venezuela strike secret from the U.S. Congress because he was worried leaky lawmakers would wreck the raid.
The president insisted that it was the reason he didn’t ask for permission for the attack at a press conference in Mar-a-Lago on Saturday.
His comments came as a growing number of lawmakers from both parties were sounding the alarms on the U.S. carrying out strikes on Venezuela without authorization from Capitol Hill.
Trump announced the strikes and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a post on Truth Social just after 4 am ET.
In his press conference, the president claimed the U.S. would “run” Venezuela until a transition can take place. He also suggested the U.S. was prepared for larger strikes.
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted that the couple had been indicted on gun and drug charges.
Republican Trump critic Rep. Thomas Massie was among the first GOP lawmakers to sound the alarm about the U.S. attack.
“If this action were constitutionally sound, the Attorney General wouldn’t be tweeting that they’ve arrested the President of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 U.S. firearm law,” Massie wrote on X.
He also pointed out that the unsealed indictment had “no mention of fentanyl or stolen oil.”
Retiring Republican Rep. Don Bacon said the operation was “great for the future of Venezuelans and the region,” but he also had a warning.
“My main concern is now Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan. Freedom and rule of law were defended last night, but dictators will try to exploit this to rationalize their selfish objectives,” he warned in a statement.
Trump ally-turned-fierce critic Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also raised scathing questions.
“If U.S. military action and regime change in Venezuela was really about saving American lives from deadly drugs then why hasn’t the Trump admin taken action against Mexican cartels?” she wrote on X.
“And if prosecuting narco terrorists is a high priority then why did President Trump pardon the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted and sentenced for 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into America? Ironically cocaine is the same drug that Venezuela primarily traffics into the U.S.”
Greene claimed it was a “clear move for control over Venezuelan oil supplies that will ensure stability for the next obvious regime change war in Iran.”
Moments later, the president himself confirmed the U.S. oil companies would go into Venezuela. Trump focused largely on the oil companies, but he did not rule out U.S. boots on the ground and remained largely vague over what comes next.
“Americans disgust with our own government’s 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,” Greene wrote. “This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end. Boy were we wrong.”
GOP Senator Mike Lee first wrote that he was looking forward to learning “what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.”
Lee later followed up that he had spoken with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told him Maduro was arrested to stand trial in the U.S. and the strikes were taken to “protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant.”
“This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack,” Lee posted on X.
He said there is “no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in U.S. custody.”
Democrats were fierce with their criticism of the president’s actions early on Saturday, even as they also slammed Maduro.
“President Trump’s unauthorized military attack on Venezuela to arrest Maduro—however terrible he is—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," said Virginia Senator Tim Kaine in a statement. “That 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’ sovereignty when we do not do the same.”
Kaine questioned what Trump would do next, as the president himself even hinted on Fox & Friends after the strikes that there could be other action.
“Will the President deploy our troops to protect Iranian protesters? To enforce the fragile ceasefire in Gaza? To battle terrorists in Nigeria? To seize Greenland or the Panama Canal? To suppress Americans peacefully assembling to protest his policies?” Kaine asked.
He called on Congress to reassert its role with his resolution that the U.S. not go to war with Venezuela without congressional authorization, which will be up for a vote when Congress returns next week.
Ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner issued his own blistering statement that using military force to enact regime change demands the “closest scrutiny, precisely because the consequences do not end with the initial strike.”
Warner blasted Maduro as corrupt, but he questioned the U.S. using the military to capture a foreign leader accused of crimes, and asked what was to stop China from doing the same thing against the leadership of Taiwan or Russia against the Ukrainian president.
“Once this line is crossed, the rules that restrain global chaos begin to collapse, and authoritarian regimes will be the first to exploit it,” Warner warned.
Warner also pointed out that Trump recently pardoned the former president of Honduras, who was convicted in the U.S. of drug trafficking. But pointed out the same administration is now using similar allegations to justify military action against Venezuela.
“Without authorization from Congress, and with the vast majority of Americans opposed to military action, Trump just launched an unjustified, illegal strike on Venezuela,” wrote Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern. “He says we don’t have enough money for healthcare for Americans—but somehow we have unlimited funds for war??"
Trump responded to the early backlash from Democrats, saying that he launched an unjustified attack without congressional authorization.
“These are weak, stupid people,” Trump fired back on Fox & Friends. “They’re trying to save themselves from almost destroying our country.”
The president went on to rant about winning the 2024 election.
“They should say ‘great job.’ They shouldn’t say, ‘Oh gee, maybe it’s not constitutional,’” Trump complained. “You know, the same old stuff that we’ve been hearing for years and years and years.”
But the president’s press conference comments did little to reassure lawmakers.
“The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans. The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a statement after the president’s public remarks.
While Trump dismissed concerns about the constitutionality of the U.S. strikes on Venezuela, he has had the early backing of Republican congressional leadership.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he spoke with Rubio Saturday morning in a statement and said he looked forward to receiving further briefings when the Senate returns to Washington.
“President Trump’s decisive action to disrupt the unacceptable status quo and apprehend Maduro, through the execution of a valid Department of Justice warrant, is an important first step to bring him to justice for the drug crimes for which he has been indicted in the United States,” Thune said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed the strike in Venezuela “was a decisive and justified operation that will protect American lives.”
He noted that the administration was working to schedule briefings with Congress when it returned next week.
